Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. (Ps. 116:7)
From a young age, I dreamed of falling in love. As a teenager, I listened to endless loops of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” pondering the day when someone might feel that way about me. I assumed “the one” would appear in college, and we would marry soon after, so I could become a mom—the only career goal I had.
Things didn’t evolve as such. Graduating to adulthood without a fiancé forced me to mourn my lost vision. Struggling in dating relationships, I wondered if singlehood was destiny. But, I found solace in Psalm 116:5, which says that “our God is full of compassion.”
When had God ever let me down? Searching my personal history, I saw that he hadn’t. “When I was brought low,” as verse 6 says, he had always “saved me.” At some point, after my younger sisters were both married, I returned my soul to rest in the area of love.
At thirty-one, I married someone I never expected to love. It wasn’t my plan, but like the psalm proclaims, “the Lord has been good.” God knew it all along—the faces of my children sketched out at the dawn of creation. Marriage isn’t the “plan” for everyone, but his will for our lives is always best.
When you are tempted to doubt him, remember his compassion.
Rest in the compassionate goodness of God.
Ericka Andersen Sylvester is a member of Waterline Church in Fishers (IN). She’s a wife and mom to two and enjoys writing, running, and podcasting.
© 2022 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
