Encouragement to go on in a troubling world
My daily devotional this morning centered on Hebrews 11:1-10, focusing on its main verse:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
I sometimes marvel at how a devotional, planned and written months ago, are the words I needed to hear that day. It reviewed Old Testament figures who, faced with all odds and uncertainty, did not lose their faith, such as Noah and Abraham.
We are in winter blues, with the ground brown and the days gray, and then we read the news. Sometimes, we wonder how we go on. How do we keep our faith when so many tragedies surround us globally, nationally, and personally? I’m writing this with news of the tragic D.C. plane and helicopter crash. We all mourn together for the families and friends of their loved ones. We again realize how precious life is, and it inspires us to treasure each moment and say “I love you” if we haven’t recently. And this is on the heels of the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area. These events and our situations can test our faith. None of us are exempt from facing trials.
So, how do we go on?
Can we look at our past, and when challenges surround us, and worries overwhelm us, can we appreciate God saw us through every time? The solution might not have been precisely what we had hoped for, and accepting it might have been challenging, but God was present.
“God didn’t remove the Red Sea. He parted.”
Memorized Bible verses and stories have helped me in my challenges. My husband’s bladder cancer diagnosis was a huge scare. What would I do without my best friend? I turned to stories about healing where Jesus told the blind beggar, the woman with blood, and the woman with many spirits.
“Your faith has made you well.”
I kept these healing stories in my heart. Roger is now a year cancer-free, and I am forever grateful.
Before I met Roger, I lived and worked in New York City. I fell at work and injured my back with a painful herniated disc. It was so bad I couldn’t get out of bed without excruciating pain. I had to take 3 weeks off and do intense physical therapy. I thought of healing stories the entire time and envisioned Jesus touching the pain spot on my back. My physical therapist was amazed by my quick healing.
One of the most difficult times was when my mom passed unexpectedly at 76. I felt devastated. The day after she passed, it snowed 10 inches. I live at the bottom of a steep street, and the plows didn’t come till late afternoon. It stopped me from the appointment with the funeral home. At first, frustrated that I couldn’t leave, I felt God’s hand in this. My mom always worried I was working too much and needed to slow down. I believed and smiled, thinking she asked God to intervene and send a once-in-a-blue-moon snow to bring me solace by letting me know she was more than alright. She was with God.
This was the close of my Upper Room Devotion: “When we are close to giving up and feel like there is no way out of our situation, we do not need to despair. We don’t need to know how God will work things out for us. We just need to keep our faith alive and trust that God is working and can bring about good things.”
I pray you will find the strength to face whatever is troubling you, knowing and trusting God walks right beside you.
