You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
–Psalm 30:11-12

After being diagnosed with a chronic illness and having numerous surgeries, I thought that life couldn’t get any worse for me. I was wrong. Not too long after being released from the hospital, I came face to face with another shocking factor that led me to become a divorced mother of one. Fast forward two years and I’m standing over my forty-five-year-old mother, watching her as she takes her final breath. “God, why is this happening to me? Why can’t I just experience the joys of life?” I felt burdened and I was. I couldn’t imagine how my eleven-year-old sister felt so I decided to move her to Georgia and take care of her. 

One thing I learned in my process is that as I continued to draw closer to God, He drew closer to me. I remember crying out to God pleading for Him to restore me and everything that seemed to have fallen apart in my life. He did! After being bedridden for nearly eight months, I now dance before Him and others. Even when I dance, I receive so much joy because I am reminded that even in the midst of the things I encounter in life, He is always present. He is there, waiting to take me by the hand and go through “life” with me. But why do we have to experience so many hurtful things in life? He desires for us to become “like the great oaks that He has planted for his own glory” (Isaiah 61:3).We just have to trust Him and cling to Him, remembering that He is the Source of our strength and that He has a plan and purpose for our life. Even when “life” happens, we have to continue to trust Him, knowing that the things we encounter will work out for our good and bring glory to His name.  

Whatever you go through in this life, no matter how hard or devastating, God can turn your mourning into dancing and He can replace your mourning with joy! Just trust Him.