THE PRESSING PLACE

"Sometimes you'll find yourself in a pressing place which will try everything in you.  

It's there that your praise and testimony are produced."

Hope for the hurting is this: That being squeezed out of these heartbreaking days is your TESTIMONY--your future proclamations that God came through.

To those in a pressing place:  Remain in Him and you will YET praise Him and declare how awesome and faithful and good He is.  I think of ones dear to me who are hurting right now through no fault of their own, and I can literally ENVISION their future praise of the God who will redeem the rivers of devastation they're wading in.  And maybe He won't come through in the way we're hoping, but it's not the end of things.  Because He WILL come through in a way of surpassing greatness. 

For those suffering, confidence is fitting--not because your circumstances will necessarily change--but because as brutal as today feels, there are days of praise ahead.  You will YET see fit to praise the God who is carving glory out of your current pain.  Your future declarations of His faithfulness are being juiced out of junk you really wish you weren't going through right now.   

I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait for the LORD.  Be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:13-14