The little engine that can't

Ever feel like that?

Many of you probably know the story of the little engine that could, and how he, against all odds, pulled the other bigger trains over the mountains and was acclaimed as a hero. But that's romanticism. Yes, I have quite the cultured romantic in me, but really, let's talk about reality. What about the days when that little engine was hitched to those huge engines, facing a monstrous mountain and he just knew that he couldn't ever do it? What about those?

It's those days that really get us--when things just seem to go all wrong, or even when they aren't going wrong, but you just want to collapse in a corner and sob. Those days when you may (astonishingly enough) be happy, but still want to just hide yourself somewhere. Those days when ...well, you feel like the little engine who can't.

I'll be 100% honest: I feel like that alot. Things that come my way seem to big; too much to bear--and yet, they have to be born. They can't go anywhere else: I can't transfer my broken heart to another world and leave it there and move on in perfect wellbeing. I can't just dump all my stress into the sea and let it sink to the bottom and never hear from it again. So my solution is to just stuff all my tears in a closet where they'll never be seen or found, grit my teeth and bear it...because, really, that is the only option. That or give up; and how appealing does that look? Not very.

I think, that no matter who might be reading this post right now, you can in some small way identify with what I'm talking about. You understand; you've been there. You're nodding your head, maybe ruefully smiling--you know. You get it. But what's the antidote? Chocolate and a day of sleep? ...no.

Someone watches it all. He's waiting--and yes, I speak to myself as well--to be allowed to bring peace to our hearts just like He did to that stormy sea so long ago. He wants to take the broken hearts, shattered dreams, and wounded spirits and create something beautiful. He can you know; He created the world--who are we to say that our problems are too big for God? Who are we to say that God is too busy with other things that He can't take time to cry with us?

Did you ever think of that? God crying with you? The King of Kings, Lord of Lords--Ruler of the universes and vast expanses of illimitable space--cries with you...not just because He has extra time on His hands, but because He feels your pain down inside His heart. Because He knows.. He's been there. He gets it.

So what to do now? You may not be able to exile your broken heart to some unknown land, but you can place it in a nail-scarred hand. You may not be able to dump your stress into the sea and watch the billows carry it away, but you can hold out your hands with a plea for help that God never could or would reject. You can reach out and find that the hand of Infinite love is reaching back to you...You can, through Jesus, find peace amid the pain, joy amid the sorrow--and, as I've said before, a dance amid the rain.

My challenge to you tonight, no matter who you are or where you are, is to look to Heaven and let God be the force behind you and turn you into a little engine that CAN.