“Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the LORD is His name): ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know … I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.” (Jeremiah 33:1-3, 6b)

God can heal a person smack dab in the middle of the place of their pain.

While he was still shut up in prison, the Lord came to Jeremiah, once again, by way of His word. God declared to Jeremiah that He was the LORD over all things, and that He would answer him and show him great and mighty things, right where he was, right there in prison. He came to bring healing and to reveal truth and peace in abundance, right where Jeremiah was.

And that is what He does for us, too. The Lord sends us the word of His truth again and again, no matter where we are. He reminds us of His authority over all things, and He tells us to call to Him, from right where we are. And He will answer us, right where we are. And show us great and mighty things, right where we are. He heals us through His word, and He reveals to us, through His word, the abundance of peace and truth … right where we are.

God doesn’t have to wait for our circumstances to change before He can heal us. Our surroundings don’t have to shift before God can do great and mighty things; before He can bring us peace and truth.

God comes to comfort us in the midst of our confusion, our questions, our hard and heart-breaking situations, with the consistency and clarity of His Word, the declaration of His authority, the invitation to call upon Him and the promise of His answer.

Right in the middle of exactly where we find ourselves.

He answers our questions with Himself, as we see Him revealed in His Word. It is His Word that shines the way forward as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105).

It is His Word that brings the peace of God that passes all understanding, that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:4).

We submit to an Author who’s story bursts beyond the boundaries of our mind’s imaginations and certainly stretches farther than the feeble circles around ourselves …

yet, nonetheless, His story does, indeed, intricately include us.

And not only does God see the big picture of our own personal life story, He is weaving it into the grandeur of His One Grand Story, of which His goodness and wisdom is the beautiful and consistent backdrop … and He can be trusted.

When we face opposition and realize it has served as a catapult towards learning to trust and surrender, we learn to give thanks for it! We may even discover that the external resistance has forged the very route to deeper intimacy with our Heavenly Father that we have longed for. Though we would have never asked for the opposition, we have asked to know God more deeply and truly; and so we learn to be grateful – not for what happened, but for how the Lord has worked wonders through it all.

I realize we are not to compare our suffering, and yet I also realize that gratitude is a gift available to every child of God no matter what they are walking through. The longer I live, I see that we should not be surprised by suffering, for God tells us that in this world we will have trouble. But in the very same statement He declares that in Him, we can have peace; we can be of good cheer, for He has overcome the world! (John 16:33)

“Peace”, “trouble”, “good cheer” all in the same sentence? Really? Only in Christ!

I pray that I will be much more troubled by the sin of my own heart than the suffering I may face in these shadowlands. Suffering is God’s sanctification tool, and it is through suffering that we come to more deeply know, to more deeply love and depend upon, to more rightly identify with our dear Savior.

So, even if the storms do not calm, circumstances do not change, surroundings do not shift, we can still BE HEALED right where we are. Because we are held by the One who holds the whole world, including right where we are.

His healing us isn’t based upon our storms stopping or our circumstances changing or our surroundings shifting. His healing is based upon Him and upon our receiving His invitation to surrender and to trust.

This is true healing. This is Divine healing.

My circumstances may not change, but perhaps – by a great and mighty work of God – the change will happen in me.

Right where I am.

“Nothing doth so much establish the mind amidst the rollings and turbulency of present things, as both a look above them, and a look beyond them; above them to the good and steady Hand by which they are ruled, and beyond them to the sweet and beautiful end to which, by that Hand, they shall be brought … Study pure and holy walking, if you would have your confidence firm, and have boldness and joy in God. You will find that a little sin will shake your trust and disturb your peace more than the greatest sufferings : yea, in those sufferings, your assurance and joy in God will grow and abound …” – R. Leighton, Daily Strength for Daily Needs

“Restoration comes through acceptance of the Shepherd’s will.”

“In acceptance lieth peace.”

~ Amy Charmichael