A very good friend emailed me today, encouraging me. I’ve been discouraged about writing, wondering if this is the gig God has for me. It is. I know that deep down, but sometimes I let discouragement get the upper hand. She told me that I write things people think but can’t articulate. That I give words to people’s worries, pains, wonderings. That blesses me. It encourages me to keep going.

She once shared this song with me during a particularly hard time:

Those words came back to me today. It’s never for nothing.

All the pain you are facing today, particularly if that pain is at the hands of people claiming to love Jesus, is not for nothing. Even if you feel your productiveness as a minister is over, realize God uses the broken pieces of our lives to do the things only HE can do. Ernest Hemingway put it beautifully: “The world breaks everyone, and those who are broken are strongest in the broken places.”

That’s the great paradox of following Jesus. We are weak; He is strong in that weakness.

So if you’re despairing today. If you feel like everything’s crashing down around you, take heart. It’s never for nothing. God will use even your pain and bewilderment for His glory and your ultimate good. As Corie Ten Boom was famous for saying, “Don’t wrestle; just nestle.” Rest right now on the mighty chest of God, laying your burdens and pains on His chest. Nestle yourself there. Consider the advent of His coming, and that when He came, He appeared in the frail wrappings of infant humanity.

Rest there. Be frail. Watch the strength of God take over. It’s never for nothing.