With Jesus, setbacks are always setups.

In 2 Kings 4:1-7, there is a story about a widow and her desperation for help. Her husband had recently died and her two sons were going to be taken away if something didn’t happen. She had no resources, no riches, + no resolution that she could see. She had nothing left. Elisha, a man of God, was near and asked her, “What do you have?”
Her response was much like yours or mine, especially in a situation like this.

“What DO I have? NOTHING! Nothing at all, except _______. That’s it! I need help, Lord!”

And His response to us is much like Elisha’s response to the widow: “Bring that.”
“Bring that”—THAT is what I’m going to use.
The thing on the other side of our “except.” The thing that we have stamped as “not enough” too many times to count.

Discouraging circumstances have a way of dampening, disillusioning, and darkening our view so that we don’t realize what we have left.
“God, this? You want to use THIS?”
It’s so normal, so not special, so everyday, so simple.

But we forget that setbacks are setups with Jesus.
How else would the need be so great in order for the miracle to be necessary?
How else would His glory be so obvious to our forgetful hearts if the gap wasn’t so great between what we have and what we need?

When your back is against the wall but your heart is surrendered to Jesus, you can bet that your “nothing at all, except” will be the exception that brings Heaven to earth.

Sure, we all wish we were a few steps further down the road we’d like to be on—but today, God is where we ARE.
Today, He is focused on what we DO have.
Today, He longs to remind our hearts that we were never forgotten—THIS place, the one that has felt hard or longer than expected or uncertain or scary—this was the place He needed to reveal His faithfulness.

If the Maker of Heaven + earth isn’t disqualifying what you have or where you are, then you can’t either 🤍
Get ready—He brings the overflow.