Tag: despair

An Infusion of Hope

On By vickleaIn Christmas, promises, Scripture, YouVersion App2 Comments

From the YouVersion Bible App Devotional, “Advent, a 25-Day Countdown to Christmas, Day 4”

God Is With You Always

Yesterday, we left off in the exile, when God’s people were trapped in a faraway nation. Yet, many had hope. Why? Because they knew God wasn’t done writing their story. In exile, they looked to past evidence of God’s care.

One of those stories was the story of Elijah. Elijah was a prophet who lived a few generations before the exile. A prophet is someone who speaks truth from God to people in power.

Elijah’s greatest threats were the king and queen of Israel, Ahab and Jezebel. Throughout Elijah’s story, he constantly let them know that their words and actions weren’t honoring God. But they didn’t listen. Instead, they doubled-down and even attempted to have Elijah killed.

Despite immense pressure in a hostile environment, Elijah remained faithful to God. And through his work, God led many people to know Him.

But Elijah still had moments where his hope ran out. On one occasion, right after a dramatic showdown with rival prophets, he felt intense despair.

Despair is the opposite of hope. It’s the feeling that the world is against you, and you’re doomed to fail. Have you ever felt despair?

Elijah hid in the wilderness and wished for death. But God met him in his despair and brought him food and water. Then, He invited Elijah to go to a mountain. There, Elijah had a powerful encounter with God that reaffirmed God’s care. This experience renewed Elijah’s hope and gave him the strength he needed to continue his mission.

Despair can overwhelm us, as it did for Elijah. Despair lies to us, telling us we’re alone and doomed to fail. But God offers hope. Hope is the wholehearted, evidence-based conviction that God is making the future better than the past or present.

When we look at how God provided for people in the past, it can give us hope for a better future today. For anyone dealing with despair, remembering stories like Elijah’s can be a source of strength. They remind us to have courage, no matter what opposition might come our way.

So, do you feel despair today? Maybe it’s about a relationship you’re about to give up on or a dream that feels like it’s dead. No matter what it is, God wants to infuse you with hope.

Sometimes life doesn’t go our way and we end up facing intense opposition. But God is still with us. We can face today with confidence, believing the best is yet to come.

Pause and Pray:

Lord, thank You for being patient with me. Thank You that when I feel hopeless, You are always there to renew my hope. Help me to fix my eyes on You and trust in You with my whole heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.

My Thoughts

For years, I went to an infusion center monthly to receive a biological medication to help with my asthma. The infusion actually consisted of an injection in my lower arm and then I had to wait a minimum of half an hour to make sure that I did not have a bad reaction. So, with that in mind, I was interested in the use of the word infusion with hope in this devotional. The infusion I had replaced some allergen cells with cells that would fight against allergies, or at least that’s the way I understood it. And the hope that God infuses us with replaces the despair we feel over what we consider a hopeless situation. Nothing is hopeless to God because nothing is impossible for Him to do.

The story of Elijah in I Kings 19 is a testimony to God’s provision even when our faith is low or non-existent. Elijah had just defeated the prophets of Baal and then Queen Jezebel says she plans to kill him. Instead of leaning into God, he got afraid (let’s face it, we probably would get scared, too) and ran away and hid in the wilderness. There God fed him and God personally assured him that he was not the only prophet left. If Elijah can get discouraged so completely and still hear from God, then we can, too. We just have to be listening. Sometimes, I think we listen to the circumstances and fear the consequences, running away from God instead of toward Him.

I needed this reminder today and every day. I have a tendency to withdraw when I am feeling upset. I am trying to train myself to reach out to God and tell Him exactly how I am feeling, whether it’s frustration, anger or grief. After all, He already knows; I am the one who needs to get it out of my system by talking it over with God.

I like the scripture illustrated above that reminds us that our suffering is not just so that we can suffer and move on. We learn a lesson each time we go through something hard, if we just allow God to teach us. At the very least, we learn to persevere through it, to pray and keep on praying, to trust and keep on trusting, to be faithful to God because He is always faithful to us. He will infuse us with hope if we let Him.

God Is Right There

On By vickleaIn Scripture, testimony2 Comments

Over forty years ago, something so totally unexpected happened in my life that not only was I not prepared for it, I still look back on it and ponder how in the world I survived the events. One day, I was a young mom celebrating with my husband that our baby was about to turn a year old. Then, the phone call came. In the middle of the night, of course. My grandmother in Virginia called and said my entire family was packing up and leaving Virginia and if I wanted to tell them good-bye, I needed to get to Virginia right away. Well, I didn’t understand what was happening, but I told my husband and he helped me to calm down enough to pack our things and get ready for the seven hour drive to my hometown. Unfortunately, when I got there, my family was gone. My mom, my dad and my three younger siblings…gone. I was greeted by the sheriff’s department who were investigating my father and told that I could get personal items out of the house, but nothing else. The home I had lived in most of my life before marriage was going to be auctioned. I was in a cloud of confusion and despair, hoping to hear from my parents that they were just on a trip and would straighten everything out soon. My husband had just separated from the military as we prepared to attend Youth With a Mission in New Jersey, and we had a few months before our school started. So we spent that time first staying with my grandparents and then in a long-stay motel while we waited for our new life in NJ to begin. Meanwhile, I was dealing with the grief of losing my family, the overwhelming grief of my grandparents who had always had my mom in the same town with them, and a change in life’s circumstances that meant we had no viable income but were depending on God. Everything was changing, and I am not one who likes any change at all, much less change that turned my world upside down. But God was right there with me and He had a plan. The experience with YWAM was not one I would want to repeat, mostly because they were not set up for young families, even though there were half a dozen of us attending this session. I had to relinquish my young daughter to their daycare early every morning and did not see her again until after evening classes, sometime around dinner. It was breaking my mamma’s heart not to be with Hope, but I dutifully did what the leaders said to do, attending classes, working a job off campus to pay off bills to the school and studying God’s Word diligently. It was in burying myself in His Word that I found the comfort that I needed. After all, it had only been a few short months since my family disappeared and now I was in a new state, living in one room, eating barely recognizable food (we had chicken fly soup a lot…because we said the chicken flew over it but never stayed there), and expected to do the menial labor of cleaning houses for just enough money to pay to do our laundry. I was desolate and felt abandoned by all but God. My husband was preparing to go on a missions trip and I was working extra to help pay for that adventure for him. He, by the way, was all in for YWAM, and I was the reluctant participant. I saw my husband less than I saw our daughter, but that was okay at the time because God was with me. Every spare minute I had was spent in God’s Word, praying for my family and desperate to hear from them. The only people I heard from was the FBI…no, really, the FBI was involved and kept trying to get me to tell them where my parents were. Thanks goodness, I honestly did not know! Anyway, in the darkest, bleakest days of my life, God was right there. He held me in the long nights as I cried out my grief and despair. He comforted me with His Word and reassured me that He was right there with me.

We completed our classes at YWAM and my husband and I decided that since I was pregnant again (in spite of using birth control), he would go back into the military to support our small family. After two years, I unexpectedly got a letter from my mom. The family was in FL and was safe but I couldn’t tell anyone where they were. Eventually, a couple of years later, I was able to visit them because daddy did some kind of deal with the authorities and they knew where he was then. Two years without knowing where they were…two more years before seeing them again. My five year old sister was nine, my brothers were almost grown. In fact, one had quit college and given up a full scholarship to go with my parents when they fled Virginia. They were working and barely surviving, but they were alive! My grandparents, by the way, never got to see them again. They were too frail to travel to FL and my parents could not return to VA (or wouldn’t…I’m not sure). They did talk on the phone, but that was before technology allowed for video calls, so it wasn’t the same as having them less than fifteen minutes away. Anyway, that’s how I know that the more you need God, the more present He is in your life. I would not recommend YWAM to any young family, but for me, at that time and under those circumstances, it was the best place for me. I was filled daily with God’s Word which was the exact nourishment I needed to face each uncertain day.

My parents are both dead now. My siblings have their own families, two in Fl and one in CO. We are all close to each other, clinging to the relationship we have together and all with a faith that one day, we will get to see our parents again in heaven. Whatever the future brings, I have full confidence that God and I can handle it together. My saying to myself and others who wonder at my strength during tragedy is,” Nothing will happen today that God and I cannot handle together.”

Closer Than You Think

In one unsuspecting moment, everything can change.

A relationship can shatter, a dream can suddenly end. Your heart can break for a million different reasons: grief, rejection, loneliness, uncertainty, tragedy, betrayal.

When something terrible happens and the world makes zero sense…

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. 
Psalm 34:18 NLT

David, the writer of Psalm 34, preached what he lived. He experienced some intense highs and fierce lows, but he recognized God’s presence in the midst of his circumstances. He knew that God was near, and God could change any situation in an instant.

Is your heart broken? Is your spirit crushed?

God is near.
He hasn’t left you to fight for yourself.
He sees you in your heartbreak.
He meets you where you are.
He has not forgotten you.
He has not abandoned you.

This doesn’t mean you won’t face hard things. But even when your mind races and your heart doubts, God offers a peace and an intimacy that cannot be fully explained.

Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we now have constant access to God’s presence through His Holy Spirit. There are many places in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is described as the Comforter—ready to soothe, guide, counsel, and encourage. 

The comfort we receive from God is a gift from His Spirit who is always with us. So if your heart is breaking and your spirit is crushed, know that you are in good hands. God is near, and He will not abandon you.

Today, take a few moments to name anything that has crushed your spirit. Then, give yourself permission to just sit in God’s presence for a few moments. When you’re ready, consider memorizing today’s verse and meditate on it throughout your day.

Saturday: A Day of Waiting and Despair

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

So, this week we had Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and now it’s Saturday. What do we celebrate on Saturday? On the day after His crucifixion, Jesus lay in a tomb, for all intents and purposes, dead. All hope seemed to be lost. Today, we know that He arose on the third day. But, put yourself in the place of His followers when He walked the earth. They knew what He had told them, but did they really believe it? Did they remember that He said He would arise on the third day? I know myself pretty well and I would have been pulling an “Eeyore” attitude, with a, “Now, what? Our leader is dead and we could be in trouble with the authorities ourselves.” This is what Saturday is about…waiting. Perhaps despair and lack of trust. But, definitely waiting. No signs and wonders. No great miracles or preaching from a boat or a sea shore. Just waiting. Take a deep breath and imagine how you would have felt. The Lord has been crucified and is in a tomb. As Christians today, we have the Holy Bible that tells us that Resurrection Day really happened and that Jesus is alive. But, the disciples and other followers did not have the luxury of centuries of Easter Sundays to look back on as we do or the New Testament to read. Imagine their despair, if you will. Let us hope that they dared to believe that what Jesus said He would do would happen. We don’t know. We do know that it is Saturday and perhaps we should spend some time reflecting on what it would have been like to be a follower in the days of the crucifixion. We are waiting, perhaps with expectation, perhaps only with despair. But we are waiting.

In our faith journey, we spend a lot of time waiting. We wait for the answers to prayer for healing. We wait for the Lord to give us wisdom about a decision that we have to make. We wait for God to speak comfort and peace to our churning hearts when things don’t happen the way we think they should. But we are NOT waiting for news that Jesus has arisen because we know it happened. We know that He lives and we have eternal life because He left that tomb empty. But today is Saturday, and so we wait. We wait for the celebration that we call Easter, but we wait with total expectation and hope. There is no despair in our hearts because we know that He kept His promise and arose from that grave. Yes, it’s Saturday. We face the day with an expectation of a believer in Christ the Lord. Let’s do our best to share this Good News with someone today. They don’t need to despair. They don’t need to worry about waiting. Their hope lives, in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

May you have a blessed Saturday and a really special Resurrection Sunday, celebrating the life of our Lord who loved us so much that He died for us. Hallelujah! He lives and reigns forever!

Forever by Kari Jobe (Easter video)