I get it. We all have those days. Days when the world feels more than tilted, it feels like someone picked it up and hurled it into a wall! When you’re digging your nails (if you didn’t bite them off) into any semblance of what “happy yesterday” looked like. Felt like. This is when it gets tricky—when you try to wring the joy out of yesterday’s memory as if God were more present then. But God is in the now.

Sure you felt him when things were great. We all do. That’s the easy part. But what about today? What about this moment when pain and disappointment sit like a heavy weight upon your soul?

“God, my God, come and save me! These floods of trouble have risen higher and higher. The water is up to my neck! I’m sinking into the mud with no place to stand, and I’m about to drown in this storm. I’m weary, exhausted with weeping. My throat is dry, my voice is gone, my eyes are swollen with sorrow, and I’m waiting for you, God, to come through for me.”

Psalm 69:1–3 TPT

How do you find him now?

You find him in a different way. You don’t look for him to pull you into your breakthrough, although he will. You find him with his arms wrapped around you. Caring for you in your pain. Loving you. Drawing you into himself. Into his strength. Into this precise moment. Not into the future and not into the past. He is your ever-present help, and he wants you to discover a secret.

You see, your happiness, mood, and emotions may be temporarily affected by what’s happening around you, but he is your Source.

“Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.”

Ephesians 3:17 TPT

“Deep within me are these lovesick longings, desires and daydreams of living in union with you. When I’m near you, my heart and my soul will sing and worship with my joyful songs of you, my true source and spring of life!”

Psalm 84:2 TPT

This warm tangible knowing, right in the center of your spirit. A living, breathing God inside of you.

“So when that day comes, you will know that I am living in the Father and that you are one with me, for I will be living in you.”

John 14:20 TPT

“Don’t you realize that together you have become God’s inner sanctuary and that the Spirit of God makes his permanent home in you?”

1 Corinthians 3:16 TPT

A peace that is deeper than your pain.

“I leave the gift of peace with you—my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts—instead, be courageous!”

John 14:27 TPT

“Whenever my busy thoughts were out of control, the soothing comfort of your presence calmed me down and overwhelmed me with delight.”

Psalm 94:19 TPT

A joy that’s louder than the deafening facts.

“Because I set you, Yahweh, always close to me, my confidence will never be weakened, for I experience your wraparound presence every moment. My heart and soul explode with joy—full of glory! Even my body will rest confident and secure.”

Psalm 16:8–9 TPT

“Because of you, I know the path of life, as I taste the fullness of joy in your presence.”

Psalm 16:11 TPT

And when you lean into him and allow his love to fill you, it settles you in a way that doesn’t make sense.

“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ.”

Philippians 4:6–7 TPT

His love is alive. It’s present. It defies the trial. It’s in a category of its own. You can step into it and find your balance for those days. In a way that absolutely contradicts what you see with your eyes, those days become one of your most precious. You’ve found him! You’ve found the One whose grace and strength infuse every dark crevice of pain. And gracefully you find that you’re okay. That you don’t have to long for yesterday or wait for tomorrow. 

Even in your pain, Jesus is with you. The joy of now. The peace for the present.

“I am with you now, even close to you, so never yield to fear…”

Isaiah 43:5 TPT

Gretchen Rodriguez is the author of The Encounter: 40 Days of Fasting with Jesus. Fasting advances our spiritual life, and Scripture encourages its practice. These times of physical denial help us grow spiritually and give us the opportunity to feel the loving embrace of Jesus. The Encounter is a practical, powerful guide to fasting and deepening your intimacy with God. Click here to learn more about The Encounter and set your heart on a journey of sacred discovery as you fast and seek God.