Remember Where Your Help Comes From
Sometimes I find myself overwhelmed by all the pain and difficulty that is challenging nearly everyone I love. Life can be so hard, and it seems to add layer upon layer on top of what seems like an endless winter. Who wouldn’t feel frustrated and disheartened by that? It’d be easy to bemoan that heaviness to anyone whom will listen, but I also know that I’m called to be different. Sure, I will process and experience difficulty (it was promised in John 16:33), but a praise of victory was also given… So what do we do when it seems the world is crashing down upon us (and our loved ones) at every turn?
WHEN DIFFICULTY COMES
I know we’re human and we will be afraid sometimes. Jesus knows He’s held me in some broken and deafeningly dark times. We will feel the brunt of an unfair, broken world and taste the bitter that lingers in its quake. But, if we are Jesus people – we have no battle that He cannot overcome. The promises are true: He will hold us through the difficulty, go with us through the fire, and endure the waters with us.
“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.”
Isaiah 43:2 NLT
God has promised that He will not abandon us; there’s no place too far, no space beyond His reach and love. As Lysa Terkeurst was wrestling incredible difficulty in her life, she penned these powerful words in her book Uninvited: “it’s impossible to hold up the banners of victim and victory at the same time.” Friends, it’s important that we remember we are “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). Our peace is found in keeping our eyes on the God and not our circumstances (Isaiah 26:3). When life throws difficulty at us, what about our response communicates to others that we trust God and that they can, too?
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised, is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 NIV
LET’S BE LIGHT
Let’s be bearers of the VICTORY banner, and not wave a flag of victim defeat. We are victorious in the almighty! Let’s be that city on a hill He called us to be (Matthew 5:14). What if we choose to live loved and allow others to see His light in us, our joy, and our pain? Have you ever known someone who wrestled unimaginably hard things with grace and light that pointed straight to Jesus? I have, and God has used people like that in my life to make me want to know Him. Let’s live our lives in such a way that it causes others to see why knowing Him is a beautiful thing. May our reactions communicate that a life lived loved in the second chance (or third or twelfth…) is a beautiful place, full of hope and peace beyond what we see or endure.
When it’s hard and storms are raging, pour your heart out to Him. Cry out. Seek Him in the Word. Your Bible is a mighty weapon and gift that can fill you with so much hope and reminders of who He is, and who you are in Him. And sweet friend, in the quiet and the joyful, still seek Him with your heart. I am convinced that a life lived in pursuit of Jesus is a life filled with hope, joy and peace, even when walking in the darkest valley. And that is something people are hungry for and can get no where else…
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness–trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never]. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.” Psalm 91:14-16 AMPC
This song encourages me in my “winter” seasons. Check it out: Seasons by Hillsong Worship
(This blog was originally published on 11/30/20, reposting is due to site-reconstruction in 2023)
