When the Rubble Feels Like Too Much

Looking at the sea of boxes, I felt anxiety and overwhelm grip my weary heart. We had reached the midway point of our latest move—number thirteen in thirty-seven years of marriage. I had declared at least the last ten moves to be the last, yet here we were again.

The words of Deuteronomy 33:25 are a lovely reminder that God will supply the strength we need for each day, but in that moment, I wasn’t feeling very strong.

Then I noticed it in one of the boxes: a rough wooden sign with the words, “All great changes are preceded by chaos.”

The last several years have been a season of tearing down and rebuilding for our family. Through those simple words, our heavenly Father reminded me that He was present in the pandemonium—and that His strength would carry us through this and every change.

What about you? Are you in a season of rebuilding after brokenness?

Often, discouragement settles in around the halfway point. We see this in the Old Testament story of Nehemiah. He and the people of Judah were rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall, which had lain in ruins for many years. When the wall had been restored to half its height, their enemies intensified their opposition.

Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, and Tobiah the Ammonite mocked the workers. Sanballat scoffed,

“Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish?”(Nehemiah 4:2).

Then, to make matters worse, the people of Judah added to the assault and cried,

“The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall”

Friend, are you standing amid rubble and heaps of rubbish, wondering how you will ever rebuild? Is your strength waning beneath the weight of it all?

May Nehemiah’s words give you fresh courage:

“Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
—Nehemiah 4:14

How do we move beyond our fears when we face an uncertain future and attacks from within and without?

We remember the Lord.

We meditate on His greatness and recall His awesome deeds among us and on our behalf. He also calls us to fight for our loved ones and our homes. Yet the people of Judah were right about one thing: they could not rebuild or fight in their own strength—and neither can we.

First and foremost, we battle on our knees. We take up the spiritual weapons God has given us: His Word and prayer—mighty weapons that tear down the strongholds of sin and unbelief.

Friend, we are now about six months beyond our latest move, and the boxes are gone. (Mostly.) But the rebuilding continues—for you and yours, and for us. And it will not be fully complete until we see Jesus face-to-face.

In the meantime, may we remember that, through Christ, “as your days, so shall your strength be.”

This truth is beautifully reflected in the beloved hymn “Day by Day and With Each Passing Moment,” written by Lina Sandell in 1865. Years before she wrote it, Sandell had watched as her beloved father, a Lutheran pastor, fell overboard from a steamboat and drowned.

Turning Grief into Hymns: Her sorrow profoundly influenced both her life and her writing. Leaning on God for comfort, she transformed her pain into sacred poetry and eventually composed more than 650 hymns. Often referred to as the “Fanny Crosby of Sweden,” her words became an important part of the spiritual revivals that swept across Scandinavia.

The hymn reminds us that God does not give us all the strength we will need for the future at once. Instead, He supplies grace and strength for the day before us, and sometimes only for the moment before us.

Day by Day and With Each Passing Moment

By Lina Sandell

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me,
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,
He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then, in every tribulation,
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation,
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till with Christ the Lord I stand.

✨Friend, may we press on in His strength through every season of chaos and change until He returns or calls us home.

Your securely held sister, 💙Cheryl