Moving from desperation and desolation into gratitude and grace.

Are you in a difficult situation now in your life? Melanie Dale has had lots of those experiences, yet

I’ve been changed by a God who loved me through disappointment and continues to carry me through the unfairness of life. I’ve been changed by a God who loved me through disappointment and continues to carry me through the unfairness of life.

I’ve discovered the intense joy that comes through the pain, through unfairness.

I’ve moved from desperation and desolation into gratitude and grace.

Rather than listing all the ways life isn’t fair, I begin to offer praise, and in the praising, I worship deeper, love harder, and experience God’s pleasure.

I just reread that last paragraph and am equal parts mm-hmming and wanting to gag myself with the nearest available spatula. It’s all true . . . half of the time.

After years of telling God it’s not fair, I can now say that I’m grateful for my struggle. I would never, ever tell someone else to be grateful for theirs.

We can’t tell people in their pain to be grateful. That would be the highest cruelty. But over time, after having raw conversations with God and acknowledging the life unfolding around me, I see the beauty of His creation.

Whatever you’re going through right now or whatever you’ve been through, it’s hard, maybe it’s awful, and it will leave a mark.

There will be times when you stare at a wall, and times when you wave your fist in the air, and times when you’ll feel like you’re tearing apart.