Bad Days

Devotion for the Week...

Well, my summer devotion-writing break stretched a few weeks longer than I intended. Somehow the weeks seemed to get away from me and I'd suddenly realize it was Sunday night again and I didn't have a devotion written. You'd think that, since Mondays come around regularly, I'd be able to anticipate them, but apparently not this month, lol. However, I'm back and I think I'll be able to keep my days of the week under control from here on out 😊 So, let's jump into this week's devotion.

You may have heard about Hurricane Fiona, which wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico early last week. Well, Fiona hit Atlantic Canada this past weekend and she brought a lot of destruction with her. Our town was barely on the outskirts of the storm, so we only had a windy day, but some places in Newfoundland, the town of Port aux Basques in particular, were hit hard. We've watched one video of enormous waves hitting houses and knocking them clear off their foundations, then carrying them along farther inland. Other videos show homes floating in the ocean. In all, there were more than 20 homes totally destroyed. I can't even imagine dealing with that.

This was the backdrop to a conversation Paul and I had yesterday about Christian music. We were listening to The Joy FM, a radio station out of Florida that we really enjoy, and they played 'I'm So Blessed' by Cain. Neither of us like the song. It's kind of cheesy, which is one point against it, but I also feel like it diminishes the reality of problems people face.

One part of the song says, "Cause on my best day, I'm a child of God/ On my worst day, I'm a child of God/ Oh, every day is a good day/ And You're the reason why." Yes, absolutely, on our best days we are children of God and on our worst days, we are still children of God. But that doesn't mean that every day is a good day. Whether we're dealing with the death of a loved one, a medical diagnosis, a mental health issue or our house literally got washed out to sea, there are days that are bad days. Jesus did say, after all, "In this world you will have trouble" (John 16:33).

Songs like 'I'm So Blessed' can make Christians feel like there's something wrong with them, or with their faith. It's like, if you can't sing about how today is a good day, where is your faith? That led us to Matthew West's song 'Truth Be Told,' which starts off "Lie number one you're supposed to have it all together/ And when they ask how you're doing/ Just smile and tell them, "Never better."

How many of us have smiled and faked our way through the bad days so no one would think less of us?

We need to hold space to be able to say we are saved and it is well with our souls, but at the same time, right now in this moment, this thing that we're dealing with is just awful. The two are not mutually exclusive. Pretending that they are leaves people suffering in silence or believing their faith somehow isn't strong enough.

Thankfully, Jesus didn't only tell us that we would have trouble and leave us to sort it out for ourselves. Not at all! The full verse of John 16:33 actually says, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." He also said, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). 

I was amused that the next song on the radio after 'I'm So Blessed' was Zach Williams' 'There Was Jesus' which is one of my favourites. The chorus says, "In the waiting, in the searching/ In the healing and the hurting/ Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces/ Every minute, every moment/ Where I've been and where I'm going/ Even when I didn't know it or couldn't see it/ There was Jesus."

Whatever we face, the good days, the bad days and the unimaginably horrible days, He is with us.