Dear Hurting Christian,
My heart breaks for you right now, especially when you are struggling to find hope. I can’t imagine what it must be like to endure all that you have endured. Maybe your hurt comes from the loss of someone near and dear to you. Or maybe it was from your suffering at the hands of someone that you loved dearly. It could be as a result of betrayal in your marriage, by a family member, or a friend. Maybe it was a loss of an expectation. Yes. Those hurt our hearts too.
Whatever that hurt is, I see it.
Hurt is very familiar to me too.
I have experienced many of these as well.
I see the moments you are thankful because you have survived this far, but I also see the fear in your eyes as you anticipate what your future holds. What a bag of mixed emotions!
You have the gratitude for life, but at the same time, the anxiety of the unknown kicks in, and it’s mixed with the confusion of not understanding the why’s and lacking the ability to make sense of where you have been.
Oh, and the feelings of emptiness that have settled in, as you conclude that you may have just lost …
Everything.
You don’t know what the next few days will bring. You certainly don’t know what the next year or 10 years will bring. Neither do I.
You are asking, “Will this hurt ever go away?”
You feel lost and wonder if you will ever figure it all out, or if you’ll ever know why you are experiencing such a struggle.
I don’t know your specific story, and I haven’t walked in your shoes.
What I do know is that you will get through this, and …
There is Hope.
You are resilient. You are strong. You can do this.
How do I know that?
Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Because with God, ALL things are possible.
Yes.
ALL.
God has a plan for your life, even when it seems there isn’t one.
Jeremiah 29:10-14
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Hope!
Before you were born, He knew you, and He had a plan for your life.
He conquered the grave for you!
You can be brave because He keeps His promises.
He wants you, and He wants you to seek Him first. He wants you to pray. He wants you to talk to Him before, during and after the messiness in your life. I know He wants that for both of us!
He has an overwhelming, never-ending, unconditional, relentless love that we can’t mess up.
If you truly and earnestly look for Him, you will find Him. He is there to comfort you and give you strength when you think that you don’t have any more to give. There is no wall He won’t tear down to come after us. I know I don’t deserve it, but yet, His love is freely given to me, and you can be confident that His love is there for you too. His pursuit of us will not end!
The battle has already been won! You are worthy because He made you worthy!
Psalm 91:1-8
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
Hope!
You can find rest in Him. He covers you with His feathers and you can find refuge in Him.
Always.
Can you just imagine that for a minute? Crouching under the protection of His glorious, soft feathers. Safe from the enemy’s attack.
Psalm 91:9-13
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
When you feel like you are being beaten down at every turn, just know that no weapon formed against you will prosper because He is your protector. There is no one bigger than God!
Thank the Lord, we can know that even though the storm rages on inside, He will use it all for good.
Psalm 91:14-16
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
All you have to do is …
Call out to Him in your time of need and call out to Him in your time of hurt.
Set your expectations.
Know that emotions come and go. Just because you are choosing to trust God to deliver you from your hurt and grief doesn’t mean that it is meaningless. He will use the hurt and grief to grow your faith in the one that heals, if you will allow it!
Praise His name and He will protect and deliver you!
Put your hope in Him, and rest your weary head. He will take care of your heart.
Trust Him in this season.
Just a little something to ponder …
Surrender it all to Him.
There are 100 billion galaxies in the world that He breathes energy and life into. He can handle your heartache and pain.
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” ~John 4:10
Seek Him and Ask for His living water to wash over you and cleanse you from the inside out.
The truth is that no matter where you are in your life, your walk with God, life struggles, marriage, family life, career, and even insecurities … you have been given EVERYTHING you need to accomplish God’s will on this great big Earth. In those places where you don’t feel that you have the knowledge, pay special attention to what God’s Word says about that here in verse 2 Peter 1:5 …
… make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Follow His voice.
He is there.
Don’t give up. When we give up, Satan wins.
