Encouragement for Today

February 27, 2025 Consider What Might Be Possible in the Middle of What Feels Impossible LYSA TERKEURST Lee en español

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’” Mark 10:27 (NIV)

The older I get, the more I realize the crucial importance of making peace with this fact of life: Sorrow and celebration can coexist.

In one single day together. One month together. One season together. You don’t have to pick one or the other. A person can quite simply have both.

I understand how challenging it can be to find the energy to enjoy your life when someone or something you loved has left. It can be painful to imagine feeling good, normal and hopeful again. It can seem like when this one part ended, everything else about life sort of ended as well.

But there’s always a way with God. Even when things look impossible, there’s always possibility and potential with God.

Look at Mark 10:27: “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’”

While these words aren’t a promise that everything we desire will happen, they serve as a reminder to remember God’s eternal perspective in the middle of our struggles. To see possibility and potential in the middle of what feels hard. Yes, there are some things we’re facing today that may feel impossible, but that’s not all there is.

If you need a place to start, here’s an incomplete but potentially beautiful recipe for making things better:

• Honesty.
• Refusal to be led by unhealthy or insecure thoughts.
• Letting yourself laugh, cry, and enjoy trying something new today. And letting yourself sit with a memory of something you miss.
• Prayer for God to help you be true to your most healed, healthy and holy mindset.
• Peace with the fact that you will disappoint people, and people will disappoint you. And the perspective that not every disappointment is epic.
• Permission to be human yet also choose not to excuse or justify behaviors that hurt others.
• Grace to let others sometimes be fragile, fickle and forgetful without labeling them by their mistakes.
• Wisdom to know you can be both wise and whimsical, steady and emotional, mature and a mess in progress.
• Forgiveness for what can’t be changed and willingness to talk about and act on what can be changed.

Not all of these may be possible for you today. But just consider … Which of these could be possible? What might be possible if you tried? You don’t have to do it perfectly for it to be good.

Friend, we must not let the sorrow of yesterday cloud the celebration of new possibilities today. Release the belief that a dead end is the end to all you hoped life would look like, and open your heart to hopeful possibilities for the future. Stay close to God and to people who love Him. Keep believing and looking for what’s possible in the middle of what seems so impossible. See the word “impossible” as God reminding you: I’m possible.

Jesus, I’m releasing all that feels impossible into Your hands. May Your peace flood my mind and heart, easing any uncertainty I’m feeling. Help me look to You in my circumstances, seeing Your goodness and faithfulness even here. Help me not to be so consumed with my sorrow that I miss the chance to celebrate what You’re bringing into my life right now. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

OUR FAVORITE THINGS

Your prayers don’t have to sound polished, put together or perfect to be effective. God invites us to talk about anything on our hearts with Him, just like we would share with a good friend. If you want help making this more of a daily practice, we created a prayer book: For the Girl Who Needs Hope: 60 Biblical Prayers for the Hard Moments — available now with a donation of any amount to Proverbs 31 Ministries. Give and get your copy!

ENGAGE

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FOR DEEPER STUDY

James 1:2-3, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (NIV).

What joy are you choosing to consider today? What is an example of sorrow and celebration coexisting in your life right now?

We’d love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments.

© 2025 by Lysa TerKeurst. All rights reserved.