You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

*This blog post was originally shared with The Round Farmhouse Ministries Facebook and Instagram pages in July. We are continuing to blog through the Psalms in June and July. Check out The Round Farmhouse Ministries for daily posts connecting additional modern day songs to the Psalms.

“For His anger is but for a moment,

and His favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may last tarry for the night,

but joy comes with the morning.” Psalm 30:5 ESV

Almost two years ago, my husband asked me, “Do you think it’s time to move back to our home town?” For sixteen years, we had toyed with the idea of moving back home, but our jobs kept us rooted in the town of our alma mater. Each time we brought a new baby home from the hospital or a niece or nephew was born, we imagined what it might be like to raise our kids together within a 10 mile radius of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Until this point, our answer was a confident “no.”

Then, Covid changed things. Our priorities changed. My husband’s job changed. This was the first time we felt we could confidently make the move.

As we made plans to relocate, deep down, I sensed we were about to go through challenges that would require us to be in close proximity to our extended family members. Even with this hunch, I couldn’t have anticipated the difficulties we would experience in just twelve months.

While reflecting on this season, I can’t help but to connect it to Tauren Wells and Elevation Worship’s song “There Will be Joy” which is based on Psalm 30:5 ESV “For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may last tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

Three lines of this song’s lyrics especially help me process through this season of life:

1. “Everything happens for a reason, but you don’t know what you don’t know.”

After experiencing the devastating lows of:

* debilitating nerve pain leading to back surgery

* our unborn nephew going to Heaven sooner than we hoped

* navigating through another hidden disability diagnosis for one of our children

We now know why the Lord led us back home this year. The Lord knew that we would need to be with extended family, so that I could heal, we could help our sister and her family heal, and we could have a huge support network to help our child continue to thrive. I’m thankful that I “didn’t know what I didn’t know.” Had I known, I wonder if I would have been paralyzed by fear by the heaviness of these challenges?

2. “There will be joy in the morning.”

I used to think that this meant joy would happen literally the next morning. However, I am learning that God’s timing is different from our timing. Thankfully, He is always right on time. With every new season comes unexpected moments of joy.

3. “If it’s not good, then He’s not done.”

Friend, whatever is causing you fear and frustration, let’s hold onto the promise that even if it’s not good yet, then God’s not done working. Weeping may last for a season, but His favor lasts for eternity.

Hindsight is 20/20. If we take a moment to reflect, we can see evidence of joy in every season.