Have you felt your life is “one-big-whopping-fog-filled” existence, pushing through year after year trying to keep your head above water? Having a “brain-fog” serves a purpose for a small percentage of the journey, but it’s never meant to be the totality of the assignment. And when you realize certain individuals have been responsible for pushing you down that path, how do you handle the bitterness and the hurt? How do you let it go? How do you move to a successful blooming season and honor the Lord with your life?

For example, have you tried to share your feelings with someone and they just totally shut you down? Or, they blatantly said, “you really didn’t feel that way” (!)? (Shaking my head) Maybe their body language expressed a real inconvenience or disturbance to even bother listening to your feelings. By the same token, have you ever been told you just need to have more “faith,” or “just get over it!”?

Is it not a vicious misconduct to tell another person how they feel? Many times, we don’t know how we ourselves feel let alone another person with a whole different deck of cards! Can you imagine what would happen if we refrained from offering our opinions and LISTENED to what was being said, then prayed with that person, committing to pray for them on a regular basis, and MAYBE even give them the green light to share their feelings from time to time if that would be of help to them? Or, MAYBE even direct them to someone who would genuinely care to listen to their story.

But, far too many people scream: “Keep the covers on! Don’t uncover that!” So, I find myself contending, “Don’t stop until you find the ONE person who can be trusted with your story!” Bravely uncover “the coverup” because God is gracious, and His GRACE abounds! His Word can carry us through fogless days of authenticity. His grace is sufficient through years of coverup and even if you didn’t feel it, He was leaning in when no one else noticed. Does God have a purpose in our lonely, misunderstood foggy seasons of life?

Laura Story says, “God wants to restore our relationship with him more than anything else. Though he loves us, he’ll allow us to feel the pain of this world’s unhealed hurts if it brings us closer to him.”

Sometimes “brain-fog” is a result of holding on to bitterness and not allowing the Lord to write the story.             “’I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19, [NLT]).

If we remember all WE have been forgiven, it makes it easier to offer that forgiveness to others.           “… And forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us” (Matthew 6:12).

When we hold a grudge, our sins will keep us from experiencing what we were meant for: a relationship with the great “I AM.”

One of the most extraordinary stories in the Bible of someone letting go of bitterness, and not even entertaining it, but understanding where and why hurt comes, is Joseph when he was abandoned in Egypt (Genesis 50:20). If you don’t know the whole story of Joseph’s life, go back and read it (Genesis 37-50). It is one big whopping GRACE-FILLED journey!

Joseph kept the right attitude. He didn’t have “brain-fog.” He lived in total surrender to “I AM” filling his mind with God, and being part of His story for His glory. Joseph had been given light (truth), and he exercised it through all the seasons: being misunderstood, being hated by his brothers, being sold, being accused, and being imprisoned.

So, are you experiencing a season of fog that you just can’t shake? Do you feel as though your blooms have been stunted? Ask the Lord to uncover any reason you might be holding a grudge or allowing bitterness to reside. Fill your mind with the truth of Scripture. And forgive. But most of all, find that person with whom you can share your feelings and who will pray for you and direct you to the All-Sufficient One! He’s the best Writer of fogless authentic stories who understands the main characters because He created US!

When you finally uncover what you have been covering up there is GRACE!

                 ^“Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

“When we find ourselves in a very dark season of life, we long for someone to put an arm around us, assuring us that everything will be okay. We want assurance that our world is orderly and stable–not spinning off into chaos. We want to know that God is at the center of our suffering, not only holding our lives together, but also holding us. In today’s Scripture, we have the massive promise of that assurance: ‘We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28). This is true no matter what we face in life. The robust hope of the believer is not that we will escape hurts and sorrows, but that God will make every one of them an instrument of His mercy to do us good—both now and in eternity.  ‘Dear Lord, I really can’t imagine how people get through life without You. What would it be like to believe that all of life is random, without plan or purpose, leading to nothing? I’m so grateful for You—the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). I’m so thankful I can leave all the tangled details of my life in Your wise and loving hands.’” –Joni Eareckson Tada

AMEN & AMEN