It took me a very long time to find a verse that truly spoke to me. Whenever I was asked, I would recite the first verse from Revelation 12: "And a great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon at her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars". I remember very clearly sitting on the bristly, multicolored, and very ugly carpet at my elementary school after the last day of fifth grade, skimming through the book of Revelation and coming across that verse, then thinking about what a beautiful description of Mary it was. I think I acknowledged that verse as my "favorite" before that moment, but I distinctly remember reading it then.
So for years I would call this Bible verse my favorite because I loved how they described Our Lady.
But then one day, in the recent past, I came across another beautiful verse from Revelation that really stood out to me. You know how life is sort of like a roller coaster? You have good days, you have bad days, and sometimes, those bad days sort of take hold for longer than a day. One of my favorite questions from these instances is probably "why?"
Those bad times feel like they can take over your whole life and ruin everything. Those bad times feel like they are your life, and you can't escape it, and you're doomed to live a life of depression forever. But of course this is not true, because, if we stick to the analogy, life is a roller coaster and eventually you'll be soaring again.
What I remember in these difficult times is that this life, and any grief we experience in it, is not all there is. We don't just cease to exist after we breath our final breaths...there is a beautiful land awaiting us ruled by a King who loves all of us deeply, even to His own dying breath. It is hope that I remember in these difficult times!
When the world feels like it's falling apart, when it feels like nothing can go right, when it feels like you're a failure, remember that there is something greater than all this, something far more lovely and marvelous than all our best memories combined. Remember that if you cling to the Cross of Christ - Christ, Who was abandoned by His own friends in His time of great suffering and killed by those He came to save - if you put all your trust in Him and grow to depend on him for your comfort and avoid sin as best you can, He will guide you, His most precious child, to the kingdom where G'D has called you!
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more,
for the former things have passed away."
- Revelation 21:4
Beautiful!
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