If you are like me, you want the comfortableness of certainty in your life. And over these past few months that has been completely shattered, I have said ‘we will get through this’ to myself and others too many times.

Often, when we enter a desert time, familiarity is stripped away and uncertainty becomes our ‘new normal’. This season has several names, the unknown, the void or the desert.

Yes, we can get through this, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that things will be better. It may also be different from what you were expecting.

If you are counting on certainty, this fleeting hope could ruin your life. There is a risk that comes with living and instead of constantly fighting it, we need to go with it. It’s the tension of the unknown and realizing that nothing is for certain that keeps us alert and alive.

This is where God’s grace needs to become our ‘new normal.’  Getting through these times, requires us to recognize the tension that grace holds for us.

Grace holds possibility in one hand and risk in the other. Grace knows that it could go either way.

But grace also means with God’s help we can handle the situation no matter which way it goes.

With grace in our hands we can enter the void, the unknown, the desert and know that we can navigate ‘uncertainty’.

When Joshua was ready to lead Israel into the Promised Land, there was no certainty they would succeed. As they sat on the edge of this new world, an angel of God appeared with these words:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 NIV)

But even with that, Joshua still had to take the risk, trust God’s grace for whatever would happen, and press ahead.