Leap of Faith

Tag: discouragement

  • HOPE for the NEW YEAR: Part 1

    For me, 2022 hit like a sucker punch to the gut. By Jan 3rd, my husband, daughter and I all had COVID.  Three weeks later I found myself sitting beside my daughter’s hospital bed praying that she would recover from a COVID induced delirium. Few things are as terrifying a seeing your child incoherent and delusional, lying a hospital bed.  

    This is NOT how I would have chosen to start 2022. Like it or not, this is how it started. Now I have two choices. I can decide that 2022 will be a crappy year and lose myself to fear and depression. OR I can place my hope in the Lord and believe His promises.

    I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord. Plans for good, not to harm you, plans for hope and a future of HOPE (Jer 29:11) All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28) 

    These are my go-to verses when the poop hits the fan. They have carried me through some of the darkest, most heartbreaking seasons of life. They anchor me to a steadfast hope. God has demonstrated over and over again that in EVERY circumstance, He can be fully trusted to work on our behalf!

    Yet, as I watched my precious daughter slip into delirium, my hold on this anchor of hope became as tenuous and fragile as the tether my daughter had on reality. Both began to unravel. I watched her mental faculties deteriorate and I felt utterly helpless and hopeless.  When I left my terrified, delusional daughter at the hospital alone, my heart broke. In utter desperation, I cried out to God. Then I came across Daniel 10:19

    “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!”  

    The angel of the Lord spoke these words to Daniel after he saw a vision of a mighty warrior coming against Israel. This vision caused overwhelming fear and anxiety in Daniel. “Yet no strength was left in me, for my normal appearance turned to a deathly pale, and I grew faint and weak with fright” (Dan 10:8). I could TOTALLY relate! I was overwhelmed, anxious, and filled with fear.

    I clung desperately to Daniel 10:19. As I repeated it over and over, it reminded me WHY God has good plans for us and why He causes EVERYTHING to work for our good.  It is because we are precious to Him! His love is limitless and extravagant. He defines, embodies, and expresses love perfectly. Amazingly, inexplicably, undeservedly, WE are the objects of His extravagant love! Because we are precious to Him, He has good plans for our future. He is so serious about these plans that He will cause all things to work for their fulfillment. 

    Our lives matter to God! What comfort and HOPE this brings! No matter what happens in this coming year, we can anchor ourselves in this hope! God is ALWAYS faithful! There is no shadow of turning in Him. His word does not fail or come back empty but accomplishes that for which He sent it (Is 55:11). He has GOOD plans for our future, and He will ensure that those plans are fulfilled. Grasp that HOPE with all your might and NEVER let go! Find peace! Be encouraged! Renew your strength! We are precious to Him, therefore we have hope in this new year!

  • DEALING WITH DISCOURAGEMENT: A 2020 survival guide

    I started my 2020 survival guide with the post “Faith, Hope and Love.” It was followed in short order by “Finding Faith”, “Building Faith” and “Walking by Faith”. It was time to start writing about hope. Yet every time I sat down to write, the words were like a classroom of unruly 2-year olds on a massive sugar high. IF I could find the words, I couldn’t get them to sit still long enough to form a coherent sentence.

    The truth is, I was having trouble writing about hope, because I was having trouble finding hope. I had already hit the proverbial wall with the COVID situation. Social distancing and being separated from family and friends had worn thin. Then came the murder of George Floyd. That was more than I could handle. In the wake of all 2020 had dished out I found myself struggling with a onslaught of negative emotions.

    I don’t experience discouragement often. This time however, I just couldn’t shake off the negative emotions that were overwhelming me. I found myself getting ground down by 2020 and all its fallout. I was relating a little too much with Job’s outcry; “Where now is my hope?…Will it go down with me into Sheol? Shall we go down together in the dust?” (Job 17:15.)

    We are facing a LOT of challenges. Apart from the health concerns, there is the financial impact of all this on families, businesses and the country. There is tremendous uncertainty about what life will be like on the other side of COVID. The stresses on marriages and families can be overwhelming. There are arguments about everything from public health and safety versus economic recovery, to the ‘correct’ response to racial injustice. These arguments are being expressed at VOLUME. Conflict is everywhere. People are angry. Some are expressing their anger violently. It’s all disheartening! It steals hope.

    What do we do when hope feels this elusive? 

    No matter how long all this lasts or how tough it gets, our answer is in the LORD and His promises! 

    “So now we must cling tightly to the Hope that LIVES WITHIN US, knowing that God ALWAYS keeps His promises!” (Heb. 10:23) emphasis added 

    PROMISE #1 – He is our hope.

    “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him,” (Lam. 3:25).  He has good plans for us, plans for hope and a future of hope and prosperity (Jer 29;11) 

    When I started asking “Why are you downcast O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?”, the answer was “Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God”(Ps. 42:5).

    We can face the challenges and uncertainties with confidence by trusting God “with all our heart.” When we lean on His understanding rather than our own, we have the assurance of His wisdom. “He will direct and make [our] path[s] straight and plain.” (Prov. 3:5-6) 

    PROMISE #2 – He is our refuge.

    “God is our Refuge and Strength, mighty and impenetrable. A very present and well proved help in trouble.” (Ps. 46:1)

    When we begin to feel hopeless in the face of all the stresses and uncertainties of 2020, we need to seek the refuge that can be found in God alone. His compassions are new every morning and his faithfulness is unending! (Lam 3:22-23P)

    PROMISE #3 – He is our comfort.

    “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the GOD OF ALL COMFORT, who comforts us in ALL OUR TROUBLES so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4) emphasis added

    We can find comfort and consolation for the losses and disappointments 2020 has brought in its wake because Jesus is a High priest who KNOWS and UNDERSTANDS our human frailty and needs, from the inside out. Because He has shared in our weaknesses and infirmities, He knows what we are going through. (Heb. 4:15) When we seek comfort in Him, we can learn to be content in all circumstances because in Him, we will know the secret of facing any circumstance, even 2020. (Phil 4:11)

     

     

  • WATER FOR A THIRSTY SOUL: a 2020 Survival Guide

    Photo by Daniel Watson from PexelsPhoto by Daniel Watson

    I love rain. I love the sound, the smell. I love standing in a gentle rain on a warm summer day.

    Listening to the patter of rain on my porch I began to contemplate the nature of water. Water is really amazing stuff.  You can drink it, wash in it, use it to put out fires. It makes plants grow and carves canyons through solid rock. It’s as tiny as a drop of rain and as big as the ocean. It’s a gentle shower or a mighty torrent overwhelming everything in its path.

    Water is crucial to our survival, more critical than food. A human being can go about three weeks without food. We will only last three DAYS without water. Water sustains life. We spend the first part of our lives floating in it as God knits us together in our mother’s womb.

    Water can take life as well. I lived near the beautiful Clear Creek River, a crystal-clear river flowing down from the peaks of the Colorado Rockies. It’s as dangerous as it is beautiful. It runs fast and the current is strong. In addition, the river hides boulders and pockets of strong undertow. Every year someone would disappear on the river only to reappear days later when the river’s under tow released their bodies. As much as I was in awe of the beauty of that river, I had a healthy respect for its power.

    The nature of water is similar to the nature of God. He is water for the thirsty soul. He washes us through the Word until we are as white as snow. He quenches the flaming arrows of the enemy. He causes our faith to grow. He carves through the stony heart of sin to restore the years the locus ate. He is the still small voice and the creator of the universe who flooded the earth and shakes its foundations.

    He sustains our lives. Going more than three days without Him can be deadly. He desires a relationship with us that is as intimate and vital as our relationship to the water in the womb. When we come to know God, we are in awe of His beauty and have a healthy respect for His power.

    This is a season where understanding the nature of God can truly be water for a thirsty soul. As things change on a seemingly daily basis it can feel like being swept away in the current of a strong river. The stresses of working from home and managing children, family and finances in this COVID dominated atmosphere can feel like being sucked into an undertow. The pressure on marriages can increase the frequency and intensity of marital conflict until it feels like you have slammed into a hidden boulder.

    Thankfully we have a God who able to care for our needs no matter the season. If we place our trust and hope in the Lord, we “shall be like a tree planted by waters which spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green”. We need not be “be anxious in [this] year of drought, nor will  [we] cease from yielding fruit” (Jer. 17:8 NKJV). When we believe in Him “rivers of living water will burst out from within [us], flowing from [our] innermost being just like scripture says!” (John 7:38 TPT)