Lamentations 3:28-30, “When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.” Life can be like a weight bar: easy, okay, heavy, too much. That’s why this Lamentations passage was an epiphany for me. It unpacked a formula for the weighted, heavier seasons of life: 1) Go off by yourself. Shoot, Jesus did. If HE needed to, we definitely need to. During a season of heaviness, don’t be too cool or too busy to seek solitude, daily. 2) Be quiet. We are always “on,” “online,” and “on a roll.” In a heavy season, since talking is taxiing anyway, embrace opportunity for silence. 3) Pray. Period. The bible couldn’t make this any more clear: “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Pray for yourself like no one else has, is or will. 4) Don’t ask questions forever. It’s ok to ask (Jesus did, “why have you forsaken me?”) but let’s not stay there. In this season of heaviness, don’t let our asking prolong the Next-New season God has for us. 5) Wait. Not the kind of wait like a pediatric appointment with two sick kids in the “sick waiting room” for two hours while needing to pee. But wait like children on Christmas Eve, knowing when they wake up, there’s gifts under the tree! Wait like Lamentations exhorts us to: “for HOPE to appear.” If you have a King in your heart, you have a King who is alert, active and advocating for you in this heavy season. You may be lagging but He is strong! I hope this encourages someone today.