Have you ever noticed that fairy tales always end at the wedding with the phrase “And they lived happily ever after”?
It leaves us with the idea that ‘happily ever after’ is easy. It causes us to believe ‘happily ever after’ is a life with no hiccups, no sorrow, and no trials.
While I do believe in ‘happily ever after’ endings, I know that it does not come without regret, disappointment, and what if’s along the way. Happily after ever is God’s will for our lives but sometimes you must fight for it – fight on your knees against rulers of darkness and principalities.
The fairy tale ending we all long for involves times of forgiveness, times of humility and times of crying out to God. Sometimes your “Happily Ever After” includes a season like 2020.
To have the ‘happily ever after’, we must be willing to walk a different path than we imagined, lay down our dreams and embrace new ones. If we want the ‘happily ever after’ we must be willing to allow God to turn our mourning into joy, we must be willing to offer sacrifices of praise in moments of despair, and we must persevere when we feel like giving up.
Happily ever after does not mean happy always. It doesn’t mean death won’t steal prematurely, love won’t disappoint, or pain ceases to exist.
My sisters and brothers, don’t despair If your “happily ever after” looks like a messy house, bickering children, running after a toddler, caring for a loved one, or even a failed marriage or business. The plans the Lord has for you is to give you a hope and future. Yes, there will be twist and turns, ups and downs, sadness and joy, deaths and births. But it’s the totality of our life’s experiences that makes our “happily ever after” worth pursuing.
Happily ever exists, my friends, but it is in no way easy and it always comes with a fight.
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:57-58 CSB