For anyone who wonders how they'll get through the year

Originally published Friday, 04 April 2014.

Blessed be the Lord—day after day he carries us along. He’s our Savior, our God, oh yes! Psalm 68:19 (MSG)

I don’t know about you but last year felt way too long for my husband and I.

2013 was a year that we just wanted to put behind us. 

Ever since that first phone call in February when the doctor told my husband that his cancer wasn’t in remission. 

Months of chemo followed, culminating in a stem cell transplant. Then my husband was healthy. Cancer was behind us then came the first follow up scan and we found out that it wasn’t. 

He started radiation just before Christmas, and we cancelled our December plans, and we spoke about how this year has felt so, so, so, long. 

This morning my husband quoted a book he’s been reading about how when we follow in Jesus’ footsteps and we try to live like he did then we can expect hardship and suffering. 

I recalled words a friend wrote about how God promised his presence, not his rescue. 

Then I picked up the bible and read Psalm 68:9, 

Blessed be the Lord—day after day he carries us along.

Day after day God carries me along. (tweet this)

There will be hard times, there will days when I wonder how much more I can take and then there will be all the days, - every. single. one. of. them. -  that the creator of everything has carried me. 

Sometimes I forget how intimately God is involved in my life, how close he always is, how tangled in the good moments and bad times. 

Reading this, I knew that if God wasn’t there carrying our heavy loads every day this would feel like carrying a baby two weeks beyond it’s due date. 

There in this simple verse from the bible I found hope to get me through the rest of the year. 

God has never abandoned me. He has never let me go. (tweet this)

Every single long - often lonely - day of this last year God has been right there bearing my burdens, making my cares lighter. 

My husband can rely on God to give him strength to see this treatment through. 

I can trust God to see me through the rest of the year. 

And no matter what the next year holds, or the next 5, 10, 50 years, I can believe that God will continue to carry me in his arms each day. 

Ponder: Have you felt God carrying this year? Jot down the times you have been certain that God was with you. 

Prayer: Thank you Jesus that you carry me every single day. Help me to know your presence on long, hard days. Amen.

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- This was orginally published on my site in December 2013 to read more devotionals like this go to ilovedevotionals.com

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