~ If there is breath in your lungs and a made up mind to take your next step in the Way God is leading you.. there is hope.
Hopelessness is oppressing the ppl of God as the end times heats up.. but oppression is not ownership. Hopelessness doesn't own us.. Hopelessness doesn't own you.. unless you let it.
It can press in and snarl and make it's threats.. but Christ drew a line around us in blood ...that it cannot cross unless we invite it in. Hell doesn't want you to realize the power God has given you. Hell wants you to believe that you are too small and too insignificant and too broken to stand against the darkness.
But hell is a liar, and hopelessness is limited.. and you can speak hope into all that seems hopeless.. you can speak light into the darkness.. you can speak the will of God into all that is ungodly.. and the power and presence of that name.. Jesus... will break every power of hell and call every bluff of the enemy and loose the beauty and love and power of God into the ugliness that surrounds us in this world.
YOU ARE AWESOME! never forget that.. because..
YOUR GOD IS AWESOME! and he fights for those who love him
Not home yet.. warzone.. but someday..
Be strong and full of courage.
I speak hope and peace to you and your family and all that God brings across your path or causes your life to touch. Hope in Christ.
~ This life is complicated, as all war is.
You can't let discouragement and disappointment rob you of your joy and your hope. You have to decide that no matter how dark it gets.. no matter the painful road you must walk.. no matter the insults and lies the enemy yells in your face.. you will hold on to those things that Christ says are yours.. hope and joy. They cannot be taken from you.. the enemy can attack but only when God says it is necessary because it will lead to greater blessing for you.. hell can threaten you and make claims of authority and ownership over you, but if you know the Word of God, you know the Truth..
Even if you are exhausted in every way.. mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually.. you can demand that hell take it's hands off of the joy and hope that Christ has given to you.. No one said it was easy.. but once you make up your mind and you begin to petition God how to fight to hold on to it.. it gets easier cuz you get stronger.. he never said this life was without pain and trial and tribulation and persecution and loss and sacrifice and heartache and tears..
Rather he said it would be full of all of that..
but only for a time.. and only as you are able to bear it.. and he would repay all in due time... he would repay evil what it is due, and he will repay the faithful according to their faith.
It's hard.
This Christian thing.
This life in a world where we don't fit anywhere.
Where disappointment and discouragement are both a given.
But our hope and our joy are ours.
Given by God.
And one day soon we will cash them in..
Where they were once unseen and intangible in this life as a walk of faith,
They will be evident and shining and weighty in the life that is coming.
It's a choice.
We feel robbed by the sin of others against us,
As we lay on the ground bleeding and broken and empty,
But the moment we declare, "My joy and my hope remain!"
in faith, in Christ...
We make it so.
Cry.
Go ahead. God gives you permission even when ppl refuse.
Make your complaints to God and petition him according to his Word and his promises.
Converse with him without ceasing,
in the good times and the bad..
being honest and real.. always mindful of his holiness and his love for you..
I am reminded of a time when I was at my worst with my sickness..
I continued to care for my three children and my family.. with next to no help from anyone.
My family too far away, my church family in another city, and my inlaws busy with work.
I would wake in the mornings and force myself to literally roll out of the bed onto the floor of my room, my energy level at zero, my body aching and my mind full of all that needed to be done for the day. I would will my body to get up each morning and just take one step at a time.. trusting and petitioning God as I took each one.
I would nap on the couch several times a day when my newborn son would nap in his crib, with a baby monitor set on high volume. I would lay on the couch on my side with my knees bent so that my five year old son could sit in the crook of my legs as he watched one of his favorite 30 min shows.. and I would hold my three year old (very active) daughter in my arms so it would wake me up if she tried to get up and go exploring before nap time was over. I did the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, homeschooled each day.. and did my best so that my husband would not feel the stress of having a sick wife.. and such was the road that was laid before me to walk for whatever the reason.
As my children got older, and the sickness remained.. I would nap on the couch alone.. and often times as I lay there, with my energy at zero again, my daughter would walk into the room and I would tell her in faith and declaration.. "I am a walking miracle." Because even tho so many other ppl were unable to function thru the sickness and the treatment.. I was holding it together by the Grace of God and his presence every step of the way. It became such a regular declaration, and empowered me to find the strength as God granted it, to rise and care for my family without complaint thru those difficult days.. Years later, as college age adults, my children still laugh about it with all respect and thanksgiving to God.. but still the humor of it in the natural could not be denied.
My daughter often quotes it back to me these days, and we both still laugh about it. But is also serves as such an encouragement when new challenges arise in life.
Several doctors have said that they have never seen anyone live with the disease and do so well as I have in the past 30 plus years.. God carried me and held onto me, when my strength would give out.. he always made a way when there seemed to be no way.. never abandoned me.. never forsook me.. never gave up on me.. worked all things for my good despite how hard it was at times... despite how messy my walk got at times and how loose my grip became when hell was in my face.
I am a walking miracle.
So many times over.
And I give my God great praise for all of it <3
