Not everything is as it should be. Everyone everywhere seems to have a sense that something is off, whether it is in the small scale details or the overarching stories of our lives and the world in which we live.

There is pain. No matter how it came about, it’s there. No matter whether it is on the surface and apparent or hidden in the depths, it’s there. No matter if it’s an afterthought most of the time or it steals all your attention day in and day out, it’s there.

Sometimes it’s our own fault, and sometimes it isn’t.

The way it happens and what it looks like don’t really matter much. What matters is the way we deal with it and that we deal with it at all.

But we can’t deal with it unless we accept it, and we also can’t have hope unless we accept it.

Even if we can’t sense it closeby, it is written upon a world still prevailing and persistent against the pain.

Surely that is a sign that there is a purpose that lies beyond the pain. Surely that means that if we were put here, it wasn’t for nothing.

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I want you to know that there is hope beyond what you are feeling right now.

I want you to know that you are loved regardless of what you can see or hear or feel.

I want you to know that you can believe in something lasting.

This is my journey through doubting to faith, through despair to hope, and I want you to join me, even if it’s not the whole way.

Jesus loves you, and in him, you will find acceptance.