I would be lying if I said these last few months have been easy...they've sort of been the opposite of easy actually. I know things could be a lot worse for me, and that things are a lot worse for a lot of people in this world, but I will be very honest and admit I was becoming very discouraged about a lot of things the last few months...my health, my job, and missing Uganda more than I could handle. The enemy is sneaky in his tactics to lure us away from the Lord. He uses little things like doubt, uncertainty, and fear to slowly pick away at our joy and confidence in Christ. I was quickly falling into his trap and letting myself doubt that I would be able to claw myself out of the pit I had fallen into. And right there is part of my problem...I was of the mindset that I had to get myself out of this pit of doubt and discouragement, but that is exactly why I was in the pit to begin with. I had been trying to get out on my own, and that was just not possible! The only way out of that pit was to allow God to lift me out!! And He has!! Only he can give us the strength and courage to face hard times head on. A lot of things haven't really changed much...my health is better, not perfect, but better; my job is still hard at times (night shift is killing me); and I still don't really have any idea when I might be able to go back to Uganda. So what has changed that I'm no longer feeling stuck in that pit? Hope! Hope is a common theme in the Bible. When I did a keyword search for the word "hope" on biblegateway.com it came back with 180 results! So what is this "hope"? To quote bible.org "hope is the confident expectation, the sure certainty that what God has promised in the Word is true, has occurred, and or will occur in accordance with God’s sure Word." God's promises are true!! Promises like the ones found in one of my favorite verses: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you Hope and a future." With that Hope we can find real Joy!! He has perfect plans for our lives, and even when things may feel bleak, He is still in control. Hebrews 6:19 says "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure..." An anchor for the soul...think about that. An anchor, something relatively small in comparison to the vessel it is tied to, but yet it holds a firm grip on that vessel to keep it from drifting away, even in the midst of a storm! Here are a few more verses that speak to the hope and joy we can find in Christ!
Psalm 42:5 "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."
Psalm 31:24 "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord."
Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
I've found in the last few weeks that when you choose to have hope in God's promises and faithfulness, you in turn find the kind of Joy only He can give!!
Beavers! I want you to know how incredibly God-breathed your message was for me and for my friend whom I shared this with during her visit. The scriptures you shared certainty inspire and reignite a passion for relationship with the Lord. Because He cares about how I feel when I am in the depths and dark nights of the soul. He desires my heart, and with that, feeling desired by the Lord, I have HOPE. I have HOPE because He lives in me, and He can only live in me because He died in my place. Feeling ransomed is so good.
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