[Spirit100]

To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning.
Isaiah 61:3

Recommended Reading: Isaiah 61:1-3

Kay Arthur was bitterly disappointed when she contracted a heart infection that forced her removal from the mission field. She and her family, serving in Mexico, were forced to return home. “I felt like a failure,” she wrote. “Depression set in until I cried, ‘Father, whatever You want.’ It would be several years before I’d see how He’d use those formative years of study in Mexico to prepare me to write inductive Bible studies that would eventually reach 52 countries.”

“My disappointments aren’t over,” Kay admits. “Pain and trials are almost constant companions, but never enemies. They drive me into His sovereign arms. There He takes my disappointments and works everything together for good.”

Sometimes we feel our world is falling apart, but the lessons learned through the pain often bring hidden blessings. The Lord promises in Isaiah 61 to exchange our mourning with His oil of joy and to give a garment of praise to those who are weighed down in spirit. Cast your burdens on the Lord and let Him become the strength of your heart. Let trouble drive you into His sovereign arms.

The devil sometimes goes too far. He drives us straight into the Lord’s arms.

Ruth Bell Graham