“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1-3

This is such a powerful verse. Jesus was sitting with a messy group of humans, not unlike us, a group of disciples from every walk of like who had just heard what was going to happen. I am pretty sure they were feeling overwhelmed, anxious and likely scared.

It would be easy to read this verse as though I were saying to glibly to myself, “Hey Mona, don’t worry about it.” But that is not the heart of Jesus. To his distraught friends he said, “I know you are going to see trouble but I am coming to comfort you so you don’t have to worry. Not because things won’t be scary or you won’t feel anxious but because your faith is not in your feelings or circumstances. Your faith is in me and my Father.”

How quickly I forget this when I am in the midst of chaos!

And I love how this verse ends. Jesus says to them and to us that there is something ahead. He said, “What you are going through is right now, in this moment. But remember child, I am making a home for you, far away, and one day you are going to get there but in the meantime I am with you, walking through the valley with you, right now.”

I don’t know about you but I find that incredibly comforting.

So what ever you are going through - I want to encourage you — hear Jesus speaking to you in a gentle way… “ I love you, don’t be troubled, yes the world may be troubling but because I am with you, because your faith is in me, you can walk through a troubled world without a troubled heart. I am preparing a place for you. This is not the end, there is an eternity ahead. This moment will pass and there is so much hope to come!”