Bittersweet

The new book by Shauna Niequist titled Bittersweet just arrived in the mail! I’m very interested to delve into its pages, sharing her deepest thoughts on life’s changes, how we trust in God through it all, and how we have to learn amidst all that we go through. I echo these things in my own life, and I love sharing the similarity of these situations through Shauna’s beautiful writing.

As a twenty-something, there is so much pressure to establish your place in this world. It seems every decision carries weight. This past year has been a continuous trial for me personally, and I feel like I've often looked back rather than forward, but I'm beginning to understand that through every challenge I’ve gained valuable insight. Shauna states in her prologue: “Bitter is what makes us strong.” I feel that truth in my personal life. With constant financial struggles, the loss of feeling secure with the break-in and the resulting vulnerability, the lost friendships, and change in general, I’ve rekindled my faith in God. I've learned to trust in His provision, the security only He can provide, the constant companionship that He offers (and new friendships that he’s provided) and a knowledge that I am still within His control despite feeling that I’ve lost all control myself. I feel I’ve matured with the things I’ve gone through, looked at things differently, and have been taken outside myself to see that I’m surrounded by family and friends going through similar trials.

As I stop to take a break from looking back at all that’s happened, reminisce on all that I’ve learned, and look forward to what God has in store for me in the future, I realize there’s a lot happening in the now. Considering we are all at the stage where everything seems crucial, friends have cried out for prayer (in some form or fashion), and it's evident that i'm surrounded by people with aching needs: starting grad school; finishing grad school and wondering what lies in their future; friends and family and family members of friends struggling with illness, hospital visits, death; moving, both within the US and abroad; wanting children unable to conceive; job struggles; financial struggles; relationship struggles. The heartache is real. It serves to remind me daily that I’m not alone in my struggles. We all have things that we need to lay before God, asking for His help and guidance. Through this action, laying these things before God, we can be reminded constantly of God’s faithfulness. Shauna relates that she was once told by a friend, “that the central image of the Christian faith is death and rebirth.” These words ring off the pages into my life and my friends lives. We have to lose our need for control in the moments that seem to control us to truly understand God’s faithfulness. I know someone who recently reconnected with an very close, dear friend of several years and was told, “You’re not the same [person]”, to which she replied, “No, I’m not the same [person], nor do I wish to be that same [person].” It’s true. Through death, we find rebirth.

In Shauna’s prologue, she states this theme best in the following:

“This is what I’ve come to believe about change: it’s good, in the way that childbirth is good, and heartbreak is good, and failure is good. By that I mean that it’s incredibly painful, exponentially more so if you fight it, and also that it has the potential to open you up, to open life up, to deliver you right into the palm of God’s hand, which is where you wanted to be all along, except that you were too busy pushing and pulling your life into exactly what you thought it should be.

So this is the work I’m doing now, and the work I invite you into: when life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.”

Thank you, Shauna; I couldn’t have stated it better myself! I look forward to sharing your world for a while; so as for now, I’m heading into the pages of your story with eager anticipation and iced latte in hand.