“Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee” (Jeremiah 32:17, KJV).

I have a friend and fellow physician in Albania who has a new son who is eight weeks old. Yesterday my wife and I were able to greet her and her small, sleeping boy on a Zoom call. She shared with us the joys and difficulties of motherhood and how God was working in her new adventure. “I thought I would not have so much time for God with all the changes a child brings. It seemed impossible. But it turned out different. I discovered I could not do this on my own, and I’ve had to depend on Him more fully. I pray more. I have to trust Him more. When it became impossible without Him, He drew me closer.”

There is a good side of the impossible for followers of Christ, the God side. When we fall into the impossible, we can break, or we can surrender to a God who is waiting.

I’ve experienced that in my own life and have never forgotten His arms of comfort and power.

Facing the impossible is probably common with young Christian mothers in Albania, as it was for me during my mission years in Nigeria.  The impossible in international missions became so common that I would smile when I saw it heading my way, because I knew God was right behind it.

How easy to forget. In our Western, secular world, we are so distracted from the presence of God. We forget His resources do not run out when ours do. We hit the impossible and see no hope—but it doesn’t have to be that way. Whether it be extreme time pressure, or financial crisis, or a justified malpractice suit, or a life-changing illness, or a broken relationship, or a broken child, or a sin from which I cannot escape, I pray that the next time the impossible hits me I will find the good in it and the way through it, by turning to the God of the impossible, as did my friend in Albania, and then drawing closer to Him in the impossible than I would ever have known in the possible.

Dear Father,

You know, you care and you can. Please let us trust you with our impossibilities.

Amen