Nothing lasts forever. Words of comfort or words of doom?

I cuddle up at night warm in my bed as the day comes to a close – with the thought that tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will be different and the world will be made new to my eyes. And part of that is true. Tomorrow comes and it's vastly different than the day before and nothing is the same.

Tomorrow comes and everything I see has been made anew in my sight. Different, different worries same me? No. I change. We change. I grow weaker or stronger, smarter or dumber, wiser or more foolish but I grow. I am not the same person I was the day before. I know I've said this before but it's important for me to grasp on the days when everything feels exactly the same (cue Nine Inch Nails song). I have changed in some way. We have changed in some way.

Matthew 6:34 says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Do we add to our trouble by worrying about the things we cannot change? The things that are unflinching in our attempts to make them better? Do we add to our trouble by ignoring the things that sit right before us...like reminders that we are not perfect, we are not well, we are not at peace?

Tomorrow kinda seems like it's more trouble than it's worth when you look at it like that. So...don't look at it like that. Jesus knew that we would have issues, troubles, trials, worries and all out hell to go through which is why he told to us not to worry... to cast our cares on him. But isn't it hard to do when you are in the thick of it? Something in us says we are the ones that can overcome this thing – we don't need anyone else for anything and we try to do it under our own power. We either succeed or fail. But that's not the end. What happens afterwards? What happens after the success and the failure? What happens to us?

Several things.

When you fail worries mount up. They become near impossible to overcome and that begins to affect us mentally and emotionally...even physically. Trust is in short supply, security seems non-existent and sometimes anxiety or panic attacks occur from trying to take it all on ourselves. It changes us into fragile beings that break under the easiest breeze. Forget a gale force wind – that would be the end of us.

He doesn't want that. When Jesus said the above, I believe he was talking over the generations and across time to reach us here too. "...tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." This is true on so many levels. I don't even have enough fingers and toes to count the ways. The simple act of living day to day can give you such insight into your life. The things you have questions about can probably be answered somewhere in your past but I'm not asking you to live there. I'm asking that you live here in the moment at present.

There's nothing new back there.

We've met pain and heartache. They've showed up on our doorstep wanting to talk to us about their overlord Suffering. And suffering worked us over and left us to our own ends. But look...you are still breathing. You are still kicking. You are still living. Nothing lasts forever...even suffering has its end. And I speak more to the immediate than to the future.

How do you feel today? I'm learning to accept this contentment thing. The place where nothing happens good or bad – it just is. I'm learning to live in that place and make it a happy place. While I rather there be something going on in the way of happiness – I understand that even when things aren't happening, that this too is a blessing. So I won't complain.

I remember a specific prayer I made about three years ago. I prayed for some excitement in my life – something to wake me up because I felt like I was asleep in my own existence...as a matter of fact, all I was doing was existing – there needed to be more. I was bored and had nothing to do. I was stuck in routine and so I prayed for a livelihood and thrills. Man....if I didn't get it LOL. I know better though. Schizophrenia wasn't the answer to my prayers...however it has been the catalyst to my profound happiness. And I say profound because the joy that I experience now is deep seated. I speak to you realistically, it doesn't always last. There are days when joy is not even in my vocabulary and happiness feels like a myth but when they do come – I experience them on a level that I have never experienced anything before.

It's like falling in love for the first time only...it's with my life. Encountering my life every day as if it has just been handed to me is one of the things I like. Approaching my living in this way gives me reasons to want to continue living my life. It may be a bit romanticized on my end – but that's what works for me. I'm in love.

Nothing lasts forever. Not my pain or sorrow, not my happiness or joy. But I'm glad of this. I wouldn't be experiencing the growth that I have if everything were just fine. I'd be stuck. I love growing and experiencing things in a new way or even looking at some old thing and finding a new shine to it. I used to see my life as this vehicle that was all banged up and dilapidated in the scrapyard of my existence. But then something happened. As I started to get better – I found myself out of that scrapyard and on the floor of the manufacturer...being pieced back together with new parts. Being molded and shaped into a new vessel rather than vehicle. And I came out looking and feeling good.

Those old feelings that have kept me hindered are no more and I can thank therapy for that and a willingness to want to change. All of that wouldn't have mattered if I didn't want the changes to happen in the first place. I was hungry and eager to find something better than the life that I had been living. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. Just like... *snap*!

I won't look at this from the other side. Much of my life has already been that. I choose instead to see things from a different perspective. For me, nothing lasts forever means – all the pain that awaits me has an expiration date like the former pain did. I know it's there waiting but I also know that I am made of some better stuff. I have skills now, a plan implemented to help get out of those situations and a good support system at the ready. I'm a little stronger than I was before and I am getting better every day.

I've settled myself into thinking that there is better waiting on the other side of my worry. My worries are often things of my imagination – things I take from reality and blow out of proportion. I don't leave much room for trust or for God when I do that. It's like I'm saying – this problem is bigger than God. And that's not true. Because my God is bigger than any and everything there is. I settle myself in my heart to knowing what the truth of the matter is – it's anxiety, it's unrest....it's basically fear of a situation I can't handle and there is no room for fear when you are living to enjoy your life. No room for fear when you've been plucked from your trouble and given new steps to follow in...we are told that we have not been given a spirit of timidity but of power, lover and self-discipline (2Timothy 1:7). It's already within us – we need only tap into it. And how do you do that? Believe. It's as simple and as complicated as that.

We are well equipped for this life. He wouldn't have given it to us if he wasn't going to make sure we could survive the things we come up against. When we think the world is too much – that people are too much – that our circumstances and situations are too much that is when we give power to fear. That is when we lose sight of everything that matters, the love that has been instilled in us, the power that dwells within and we believe something other than what we need.

I've been there. I couldn't see beyond my own pain and suffering. I gave in to the fears that crippled me and had me questioning my life. I have given power to something that sought to destroy me simply by doubting my life, my family and God and it nearly took me away.

This time around I see clearly. I know better and I feel better. Even when things aren't at their best, even when I'm not feeling my best...I know some things I didn't know before. I know several things I didn't know before.

-when God seems the furthest away, it is then that he is at his closest to me

-I am and have always been equipped to handle the things that come my way

-nothing is stronger or bigger than God

-I always have a choice (give in or don't)

So nothing lasts forever – everything has an expiration date. No pain will last, no harm will last....all of it has an expiration date. Take heart. All the things that have happened up to now have built you up, made you stronger and have taught you about yourself and those around you. You learn every day that you live. So keep living. The things you learn may not benefit you either ....but they might benefit someone else. I'm learning this. My son has many worries at his young age – he's taken on a lot of responsibility ...rushed into it even...but these are all things that I've experienced. My troubles that I have experienced have become a teaching tool for him. I'm able to relate to him and him to me.

Life just happened that way. I was looking for some way to connect to my son and never thought that my life would mirror his in so many ways. He too is dealing with depression but he seems to be handling it way better than I did at his age. He does what I do – and that's get busy with the things that make me happy. He loves being active, working and taking care of his car. He's looking into getting an apartment – which will add to his stress but this is what he wants to do. We must all live our lives and do what is best for us. He thinks this is for the best. So I support him.

This time we have together on this earth means so much to me. The time that you spend worrying about what will end you is taking away from the things that will save you. Things that will lend you peace and comfort - if we all we do is focus on our yesterdays and the things we should have done, we leave no room to do what is right in the moment we live it.

Take heart, you are just a day away from your peace for nothing remains the same.

I pray your hearts are strong and your minds are even stronger. I pray for peace, love and joy in your lives. I pray that this harvest season you reap the goodness you've sewn in your works and the seeds you've planted in others because we are all fertile ground being watered by the words of others.

Bless your hearts, your minds and your spirits!

Until next we meet and as always thank YOU for reading!