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Hope, with a splash of romance.
Category: Signs of Growth
See, I know me, and I know all those verses about anxiety. I’d quoted many of them while lying wide awake in bed. The verses are truth, but throwing a verse at something without taking steps to change the focus of the thoughts wouldn’t make much difference. All that would do, for me at least, is reinforce my inability to defeat it.
I wasn’t seated at my desk for more than a few minutes, when I realized how desperately I needed His companionship and I asked Him for something from His Word to assure me He hadn’t forgotten about my desires.
Colossians 4:5-6 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversations be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.
Loving others in the kind of sacrificial love Jesus is commanding in John 13 isn’t easy under good circumstances. When there are things going on behind the scenes on our own lives that drains the strength from us, it can feel impossible. It can feel as if you have nothing to give, yet more and more people are asking you to give your time, your ear, your advice, your patience, and on and on…
Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. (Isaiah 40:28 NLT)
A year ago, if someone had told us we would be penning this letter, I would have waved them off as crazy. Then God began to move in our lives in a way neither of us expected, and neither of us searched for. If He had told us that taking new jobs, or building our dream house would lead us to this moment, I have no doubt we would have rejected it all. We’ve done it before.
My sincere prayer is that as our society eventually makes its way out of this CoVID situation, we will remember how precious this time together was, and that we will regain our desire for dinner table gatherings rather than the fast food hustle as we rush from one place to another. This may not have been the kind of thing anyone asked for, but it could be the very thing that strengthens our most important resources – family, friendships, and real relationships.
Every human being, no matter who they are, what they have done, or where they are in society is loved deeply by God.
There is something powerful about starting my day reassured that God is with me, that He loves me despite my failures the day before, and I begin the day with a sense of accomplishment from having completed something before I leave the house.