Right Side Up
Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Acts 9:8-9 (NKJV)
When life has turned upside down, just change your definition of right side up. Paul was blinded from His encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, and he must have felt that his entire life was turned upside down. In reality, however, despite his physical blindness, he was finally seeing more clearly than he ever had before.
It may feel that God has let your life turn upside down as well, but could it be that He’s really turning your life right side up? The upside-down experiences are producing a right-side-up perspective. You may think your life is crashing, but when Jesus is involved, your life is being built up. You may think it’s the end of the road, but you have no idea it’s only a turn in the road.
It’s the blessing that the pain leaves with you. It’s the open door that is only discovered after the frantic response when the last door was shut in your face. It’s the gift the diagnosis reveals. It’s the way your hardship shapes your mind and heart. It’s the breakthrough from the blow-up argument. It’s the discovery that you are loved even after your heart has been broken. It’s losing what you think is most precious to you so that you can find the real treasure in your life.
Perhaps today you sit hurt and angry and scared and confused and actionless. While it seems like an upside-down experience, if we trust Jesus and remember that He is always working things for our good, that He loves us with an unfailing love, then we have to also trust that what He’s doing is causing us to become right side up through experiences that feel upside down.
The challenge is to not let your blindness make you stop seeing. We have to move away from seeing with our eyes and move toward seeing with our faith. Don’t let difficulty run through your life and not leave a gift. There is purpose in the pain.
