So many people I know are living with hopelessness and despair in their hearts. They are depressed, fearful and discouraged. They wonder, where is God? Throwing scripture at them won’t help. I don’t have all the answers but I know the One who does.
Life isn’t easy or fair and we all have had our share of disappointments and heartaches. We cry out to God and often times feel like our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. Why do some people go through similar circumstances yet one gets blessed and the other just keeps spiraling downward into a fiery ball of flames. I don’t have the answer to that. All I know is that we need to trust God in every circumstance. More than likely we will never fully know the reason why until we are in Heaven. Trusting God knows and is working on it needs to get embedded into your heart and head. I don’t know why God allowed my nephew John to commit suicide but He did. John was an atheist and maybe God knew what it would take to bring John to Him. What if this was the only way, yet his life would be cut short. What if God knew John would cry out to Him at his last breath! What if???? John’s life was cut short but we could still be seeing him for all eternity. Life on Earth is just a fleeting moment compared to eternity.
Consider the story of Job, his friends couldn’t help to comfort him. Their words were hurtful and accusing like Job did something wrong to create the situation he was in. They were not supportive at all to Job. Often times people don’t know what to say to you or how to help you. People want to help but don’t know exactly how. They mean well but sometimes their words hurt even more. I have been through more pain and hurt in my life than I care to admit. Some because of my own faults and some because of others.
What I have learned is that God is always with me and I just need to trust Him even though I can’t figure out what He is doing in my life. You could be going through a devastating storm right now but just as the storm passes, clear skies are on the horizon and maybe even a beautiful rainbow. You don’t know what God has in store for you. In Romans 5, it says that we must rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. It is hard to comprehend God telling us we should rejoice in our suffering but God is telling us that through our suffering if we keep our eyes on Him, He will help us to persevere. Have you ever seen small slits of sunshine peering through the storm clouds and the contrast is sometimes overwhelming. We need to look for those small slits of encouragement and hope when we are in the storm that will keep us going. We need to let go of our white knuckle grip we have trying to control our situations and allow God to work in it. Often times that is all God is waiting for – total surrender to Him! You can’t trust God one day and then the next try to control the situation yourself.
God, I know you are in control of everything and know the situation I am in. I am fully surrendering it to you and will keep my hands off of it. I know you will close any door that the enemy is trying to open and you will open any door that needs to be open. I know you know what is best for me and my situation and are working on my behalf. Help me to only look at you and not my circumstance and allow the Holy Spirit to comfort me and guide me through each day. Thank you for loving me and taking care of me and my situation. I know whatever I face each day, I am facing it with you! Amen!
Life isn’t easy or fair and we all have had our share of disappointments and heartaches. We cry out to God and often times feel like our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. Why do some people go through similar circumstances yet one gets blessed and the other just keeps spiraling downward into a fiery ball of flames. I don’t have the answer to that. All I know is that we need to trust God in every circumstance. More than likely we will never fully know the reason why until we are in Heaven. Trusting God knows and is working on it needs to get embedded into your heart and head. I don’t know why God allowed my nephew John to commit suicide but He did. John was an atheist and maybe God knew what it would take to bring John to Him. What if this was the only way, yet his life would be cut short. What if God knew John would cry out to Him at his last breath! What if???? John’s life was cut short but we could still be seeing him for all eternity. Life on Earth is just a fleeting moment compared to eternity.
Consider the story of Job, his friends couldn’t help to comfort him. Their words were hurtful and accusing like Job did something wrong to create the situation he was in. They were not supportive at all to Job. Often times people don’t know what to say to you or how to help you. People want to help but don’t know exactly how. They mean well but sometimes their words hurt even more. I have been through more pain and hurt in my life than I care to admit. Some because of my own faults and some because of others.
What I have learned is that God is always with me and I just need to trust Him even though I can’t figure out what He is doing in my life. You could be going through a devastating storm right now but just as the storm passes, clear skies are on the horizon and maybe even a beautiful rainbow. You don’t know what God has in store for you. In Romans 5, it says that we must rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. It is hard to comprehend God telling us we should rejoice in our suffering but God is telling us that through our suffering if we keep our eyes on Him, He will help us to persevere. Have you ever seen small slits of sunshine peering through the storm clouds and the contrast is sometimes overwhelming. We need to look for those small slits of encouragement and hope when we are in the storm that will keep us going. We need to let go of our white knuckle grip we have trying to control our situations and allow God to work in it. Often times that is all God is waiting for – total surrender to Him! You can’t trust God one day and then the next try to control the situation yourself.
God, I know you are in control of everything and know the situation I am in. I am fully surrendering it to you and will keep my hands off of it. I know you will close any door that the enemy is trying to open and you will open any door that needs to be open. I know you know what is best for me and my situation and are working on my behalf. Help me to only look at you and not my circumstance and allow the Holy Spirit to comfort me and guide me through each day. Thank you for loving me and taking care of me and my situation. I know whatever I face each day, I am facing it with you! Amen!