it's not supposed to be this way chapter 1

We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. No more dust. My eyes were wide with fear. — Genesis 2:7. This first chapter of It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way, called “Between the Two Gardens,” is about just that — getting perspective in the midst of … We want God to fix it all. Think about how much of an end it feels like when someone dies. There are some really good people on this earth. No more broken hearts or broken circumstances. Oh, I have been there, friend. When I wrote my last book, Uninvited, I felt I had wisdom to share on the very painful subject of rejection. Dust doesn’t have to signify the end. So very aware of His ultimate plans and purposes. When I’d first written Uninvited, I had been excited about talking to others about healing from the rejections of my past. The book. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. But there was one final step required: I had to read through the entire manuscript one last time. We don’t determine when this is, but we don’t have to fear death as an end. The more I tried to grab hold of what was falling down around me, the more I realized my utter lack of control. We need our schedules to clear. It’s to keep our souls connected, so deeply connected to Himself. I wrote the book. And then he was off to his next delivery. He’s aware. Shattered to the point of dust. Never had I felt more shattered and alone. And then, adding more salt to the wound, people started talking. Life as I knew it stopped. But we don’t live there now.   Website, Copyright © 2019 HarperCollins Publishers. I’d been hurt plenty of times in my life. And she challenges us to lean into Him in this space between two gardens and trust His heart. I grabbed my chest while tears slipped down my cheeks in an unending stream. But what if fixing, editing, and repairing isn’t at all what God has in mind for us in this shattering? My pillow was soaked with tears of which only I knew the real source. But instead of visiting a gravesite and mourning a death, I was visiting the rumor mill and being devastated by all the theories and opinions.   Twitter We think the shattering in our lives could not possibly be for any good. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. It isn’t to keep us from getting shattered. I was experiencing the death of my “normal life.” But people don’t have funerals for “normal.” I was dealing with extreme grief from losing the person I loved the very most in this world. But what if shattering is the only way to get dust back to its basic form so that something new can be made? Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. The disappointment that comes from loving and following Him, obeying Him, and watching your world fall apart. Lysa TerKeurst is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries and the New York Times best-selling author of Uninvited, The Best Yes, Unglued, Made to Crave, and 16 other books. It turned upside down. She writes from her sticky farm table and lives with her family in North Carolina. IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THIS WAY. Right now. Yes, in the restored Eden there will be no more death. If our souls never ached with disappointments and disillusionments, we’d never fully admit and submit to our need for God. Yes, especially the timing. But God isn’t afraid. To that delivery man it was just another day. I wanted it all to go away. Jesus said, ‘While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ After saying this, He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. He’s offering us the very best by offering Himself. I felt so very empty as I spread the pages across the rumpled covers of my bed. But others weren’t so understanding or compassionate. We want to hear from you! So it’s not surprising that things get broken in our lives as well. — 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 NLT. And let’s be honest, if we weren’t ever disappointed, we’d settle for the shallow pleasures of this world rather than addressing the spiritual desperation of our souls. Lysa invites us into her own journey of faith and, with grit, vulnerability, and honest humor, helps us to see our lives in the context of God's bigger story. And now realities and rumors were crushing me. We need the world to stop spinning for a while. The pain in my heart wasn’t physical. I checked that assignment off my list. On this side of eternity. “I am making everything new!” Death is but a passageway at God’s designated time for us to finally escape this broken world full of imperfections and be welcomed to the Home we’ve been longing for our entire lives. We may be afraid of all the disappointment of this broken world. At least when things are broken there’s some hope you can glue the pieces back together. Dust begs us to believe the promises of God no longer apply to us. It’s another beginning. I pictured my reader sitting knee-deep in rejection’s grief, feeling less alone because she could sense me there with her. And You could have stopped me, God. The timing of it all. Dust is often what must be present for the new to begin. Not only was I dealing with deep personal pain, but I was experiencing firsthand the way broken people sometimes contribute to the brokenness of others. God had helped me make so much progress with the painful rejections of my past that I felt certain I could help others. She could rely on the fact that my teachings weren’t good-sounding theories but hard-fought-for truths. Maybe your world has been shattered into dust. I can’t control God. You can’t glue dust. Jesus used the dust of the ground to restore a man’s sight. We can see dust as a result of an unfair breaking. I wanted everything to pause and stop hurting me. When the hardest moments of life have you doubting everything, how do you recover? GOINGto theWELL. And eventually we will understand that God hasn’t denied us the best. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. But how in the world could I possibly talk about rejection when I was feeling so devastated by such a fresh wound? I remember getting the final page proofs of the book in the mail. It was the timing that fed this intense awareness that no matter how well I plan things, I can’t control them. — Isaiah 64:8, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. After all, I should have known I’d be attacked in the very area I was writing about. A good plan. It seemed like such a cruel twist of irony. But nothing like this. And that’s one of the most devastating realities of dust times in our lives. No more shattered realities. No matter how well I follow the rules, do what’s right, and seek to obey God with my whole heart, I can’t control my life. As I described at the beginning of this chapter, I’d been hurt plenty of times in my life, but nothing like this. My hands were shaking. No matter how well I think I know the people in my life, I can’t control them. I’m the biggest fool for picking this topic. I will be a light by which you can find God’s hope past the heartbreak of rejection.”. No more crying. Dust is much the same; it’s the basic ingredient with such great potential for new life. All Rights Reserved. I crawled into bed. It’s hard to hold dust. What was once something so very precious is now reduced to nothing but weightless powder even the slightest wind could carry away. Or we can see dust as a crucial ingredient. FaithGateway is brought to you by HarperCollins Christian Publishing and is dedicated to helping you grow and share your faith. He is our only source of perfection on this side of eternity. Do we need to be in control? Follow Lysa TerKeurst on: Physical death is the only way to start the process of receiving our heavenly bodies that will never wear out, decay in any way, or ever be reduced to dust. It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way Week 6 — Kingdom Minded. But nothing did. Maybe the unthinkable happened and you’re in deep personal pain… far more than you could ever have imagined. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.” — Jeremiah 18:6. And even then we don’t call in the experts until we surrender to the realization we cannot fix things on our own. If we weren’t ever shattered we’d never know the glorious touch of the Potter making something glorious out of dust, out of us. We need the celebrations to cease long enough to let us work through our grief. ~ Laurie McClure, Faith.Full. That can certainly make us step back and wonder, What is the point of all this? After twenty-five years of marriage partnership, I had no choice but to tell my husband, “I love you. But if the ice melts it can be poured into a beautiful form to reshape it when frozen again. I opened the envelope, and there it was — my book to help the world deal with the very feelings now pulsing in my heart. /*