There are times in life that feel incredibly uncertain. Maybe it’s a move, a relationship, a job search, a diagnosis. Maybe it’s as seemingly small as going to the dentist and not knowing if you’re going to have a cavity, or it's as big as not knowing how you might afford groceries or rent next month. Wherever you have found yourself in different chapters of your life, when uncertainty has been felt and known, how do we make it through? What do we cling to? 

If you’re like me at all, you may be reminiscing on times that you felt uncertain and without hope. But perhaps you no longer feel the same uncertainty and hopelessness because the situation or season is in the past. Can you reflect for a moment? What brought you through that moment in time? Was it Scripture? Prayer? Kind words from a friend? Time? 

Two things that have gotten me through uncertain times in my life are 1. Reflecting on how God has been faithful before and He will be faithful again (Philippians). And then 2. Thinking about the flowers and the sparrows in Matthew 6.

In Philippians 1:4-6 Paul writes, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” When life feels uncertain, I try to live in this passage. That He, Jesus, who began a good work in me will carry it on until I take my last breath. That no matter what happens, if I still have breath in my lungs, I know He’s got more for me and I have to wait on Him to reveal what that is.

And then I think about flowers and birds. Why flowers and birds? Though beautiful, sometimes they seem fairly insignificant and there are millions of them. Most of the time, they are things our eyes just pass over, yet God cares about them. 

Matthew 6:26-30 says, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” 

If I cannot remember His faithfulness in desperate times, I am employed to remember this passage. Genesis 1 says that we are made in the image of God. There is not a single other creature or thing that has that same description. When I read Matthew’s words that say that He clothes the flowers of the field and feeds the sparrows, I am delighted to think that He cares THAT much more about me and the things going on in my life. All is not lost or hopeless. What a gift it is to serve a God who sees, knows, hears, and answers (even if it’s not on our timeline).

So today, whatever you might be going through.. whatever uncertainty you might be facing, think of the birds and the flowers. Think about how you alone, as a human, are made in His image. Ask him every day to show you purpose in the mundane, uncertainty, or struggle. He makes good on His promises.