When All Hope Seems Gone.....Cry Out to Jesus
The earth needs water. Without this necessary ingredient, it wouldn't flourish. As the Bible states in Job 5:10 and other places in Scripture, God provides rain for the earth and sends water on the countryside. He gives rain for land in its season for it to yield and thrive.
It's been a whole year since I first started this post. I wanted to post it on Good Friday last year, but I guess fear set in again. If you read to the end of this post, I explain why I felt compelled to post it after Easter last year, but it still never happened! This week I received another Easter card from Jill. This evening, I felt a nudge from above...don't procrastinate any longer. Yes, it's late to me, but it's right on time because God's timing is perfect.
The above picture is from the card I received Easter week last year. After quickly reading the front, it made me think of seeing my son in Heaven because there was no Scripture verse. After Googling it to find the address of the verse, I turned in my Bible to John 16:22. Jesus says, "So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." It wasn't until I read the context that I realized it was referring to Jesus' return. Even though my son was allowed to die the way he did and so much was taken from us, in Christ, my joy can never be stolen, and I will rejoice when I see Jesus (and him). Satan thinks he can steal so much, but God always has a countermove. Satan's plans always backfire. After reading the note inside, and thanking my friend, Jill, I put the card in the kitchen windowsill. I looked at the card many times and pondered the words. Then, one day I noticed the flowers in a different way. This time my thoughts were of the color and beauty of the flowers and how they got that way. I thought about the great sorrow of the day we call Good Friday and how horrific it was. It turned my thoughts towards storms again. God has used rain and storms to "speak" to my heart in many ways and this was no different.
In November of 2015 my second post was about when the storms of life hit and how to prepare for them. When the greatest storm of my life hit, the death of my son, I started looking at rain and thunderstorms so differently. Psalm 18 was pivotal in that. A real thunderstorm raged on two days after his death and during the funeral visitation. Recently, I started thinking about how our souls are like the earth. They too need "rain" (storms) to cause growth. Without them, our lives tend to get dry, parched, and even calloused. We lack the necessary ingredient to thrive which can make us wilt, or shrivel and become useless to God and His Kingdom. We have a hard time understanding why life isn't like a bed of roses as the cliche goes. We like to think we're in control of our lives especially when things are like we like them and we tend to give God the leftovers or leave Him out completely. God, the Master Gardner, sometimes deems it necessary to till and harrow what's become hard and indifferent because our lives aren't at all as He intended them to be. They are filled with ungodliness, pride and selfishness. Our hearts are also divided by the love of the world and God has to change our perspective. He allows these storms to potentially bring about the much needed change in us, a heart autopsy. He wants us to see our sin for what it truly is before a holy God; He wants to conform us (Romans 8:28-29). All this, because He loves us so much and is preparing us for eternity. He's in the process of opening eyes to see like He does and remove all the ugliness of sin to make us more like Jesus, so we can love like Him. He wants sin to lose its power over us.
He wants us to be ready to hear, "WELL DONE." (click to listen).
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God (1 Peter 4:1-2).
I've already written about the passage below in the February 2019 post "It's raining tulips," but to me it's worth repeating. The flowers reminded me of an excerpt from a book taken from Genesis 41:52 entitled,
The earth needs water. Without this necessary ingredient, it wouldn't flourish. As the Bible states in Job 5:10 and other places in Scripture, God provides rain for the earth and sends water on the countryside. He gives rain for land in its season for it to yield and thrive.
It's been a whole year since I first started this post. I wanted to post it on Good Friday last year, but I guess fear set in again. If you read to the end of this post, I explain why I felt compelled to post it after Easter last year, but it still never happened! This week I received another Easter card from Jill. This evening, I felt a nudge from above...don't procrastinate any longer. Yes, it's late to me, but it's right on time because God's timing is perfect.
The above picture is from the card I received Easter week last year. After quickly reading the front, it made me think of seeing my son in Heaven because there was no Scripture verse. After Googling it to find the address of the verse, I turned in my Bible to John 16:22. Jesus says, "So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." It wasn't until I read the context that I realized it was referring to Jesus' return. Even though my son was allowed to die the way he did and so much was taken from us, in Christ, my joy can never be stolen, and I will rejoice when I see Jesus (and him). Satan thinks he can steal so much, but God always has a countermove. Satan's plans always backfire. After reading the note inside, and thanking my friend, Jill, I put the card in the kitchen windowsill. I looked at the card many times and pondered the words. Then, one day I noticed the flowers in a different way. This time my thoughts were of the color and beauty of the flowers and how they got that way. I thought about the great sorrow of the day we call Good Friday and how horrific it was. It turned my thoughts towards storms again. God has used rain and storms to "speak" to my heart in many ways and this was no different.
In November of 2015 my second post was about when the storms of life hit and how to prepare for them. When the greatest storm of my life hit, the death of my son, I started looking at rain and thunderstorms so differently. Psalm 18 was pivotal in that. A real thunderstorm raged on two days after his death and during the funeral visitation. Recently, I started thinking about how our souls are like the earth. They too need "rain" (storms) to cause growth. Without them, our lives tend to get dry, parched, and even calloused. We lack the necessary ingredient to thrive which can make us wilt, or shrivel and become useless to God and His Kingdom. We have a hard time understanding why life isn't like a bed of roses as the cliche goes. We like to think we're in control of our lives especially when things are like we like them and we tend to give God the leftovers or leave Him out completely. God, the Master Gardner, sometimes deems it necessary to till and harrow what's become hard and indifferent because our lives aren't at all as He intended them to be. They are filled with ungodliness, pride and selfishness. Our hearts are also divided by the love of the world and God has to change our perspective. He allows these storms to potentially bring about the much needed change in us, a heart autopsy. He wants us to see our sin for what it truly is before a holy God; He wants to conform us (Romans 8:28-29). All this, because He loves us so much and is preparing us for eternity. He's in the process of opening eyes to see like He does and remove all the ugliness of sin to make us more like Jesus, so we can love like Him. He wants sin to lose its power over us.
He wants us to be ready to hear, "WELL DONE." (click to listen).
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God (1 Peter 4:1-2).
I've already written about the passage below in the February 2019 post "It's raining tulips," but to me it's worth repeating. The flowers reminded me of an excerpt from a book taken from Genesis 41:52 entitled,
"Suffering and the Sweet Flowers of Faith"
"God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. The author talks of a poet standing by the window (as I did and have) watching a rain shower. It is a fierce downpour that beats and pounds the Earth. But the poet sees more than a rain shower falling. He sees a myriad of lovely flowers raining down, soon breaking forth from the freshly watered Earth, and filling it with their beauty and fragrance."
The author continues, "Perhaps you are undergoing some trial as God's child, and you are saying to Him, 'O God, it is raining very hard on me tonight, and this test seems beyond my power to endure. Disappointments are pouring in, washing away, and utterly defeating my chosen plans. My trembling heart is grieved and is cowering at the intensity of my suffering. Surely the rains of affliction are beating down upon my soul. Dear friend, you are completely mistaken. God is not raining rain on you --He is raining blessings. If you will only believe your Father's Word, you will realize that springing up beneath the pounding rain are spiritual flowers. And they are more beautiful and fragrant than those that ever grew before in your stormless and suffering-free life.
You can see the rain, but can you also see the flowers?
You are suffering through these tests but know that God sees sweet flowers of faith springing up in your life beneath these very trials. You try to escape the pain, yet God sees tender compassion for other sufferers finding birth in your soul. Your heart winces at the pain of heavy grief, but God sees the sorrow deepening and enriching your life. No, my friend, it's not raining affliction on you. It's raining tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed Holy Spirit. And they are bringing to your life spiritual enrichment that all the prosperity and ease of this world could never produce in your innermost being. The history of humankind has always been rough and rugged. No one is complete until he has been out into the surge of the storm and has found the glorious fulfillment of the prayer, "O God, take me break me, make me." --"Streams in the Desert"
Good Friday hit differently this year as I pondered the holiday. I focused on the storm that came the day Jesus was crucified on the cross. His death at Calvary was an excruciatingly painful life storm that caused a literal storm for three hours as He suffered on the cross and a figurative one for those present that changed the world forever...
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice...
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely He was the Son of God!"
Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for His needs. Among them were Mary Magdelene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons (Matthew 27:45-55).
 |
| Artwork by niece -Emma Clark |
God causes and allows life's storms, even violent, long lasting ones sometimes to potentially bring about abundant new life. Jesus' death was thee example of that. He died and was buried and rose again so we too might accept Him and have new life with Him. God also gave us examples in the Bible like Jonah, Noah, and Paul who experienced both literal and figurative storms to fulfill His purposes to help and encourage us and point us to what God's grace and Power can accomplish in us.
As I thought about the faces in the crowd and what each experienced, I thought how those responsible for His death were probably so proud of what they thought they had accomplished, while other observers were shocked, in disbelief. I imagined those that loved Jesus were deeply grieved and wondered if all hope was gone. I thought about Satan. He was there too, rejoicing I'm sure, thinking his plan was successful. Each one's perspective was a little different no doubt. No matter how each one perceived it, a major storm had entered their life. Horror. Shock. So many emotions. They probably wondered, Was this it? Was it all over? And what do we do now?
See the cross on the hill? Can you hear the soldiers pound the nails? Jesus' enemies smirk. Satan's demons lurk. All that is evil rubs its hands in glee "'This time," Satan whispers. "This time I will win."...Yet what Satan intended as the ultimate evil, God used for the ultimate good."
God rolled the rock away. Jesus walked out on Sunday morning, a smile on His face and a bounce to His steps. And if you look closely, you can see Satan scampering from the cemetery with his tail between his legs. "You'll Get Through This." -Max Lucado
"Will I ever win?" Satan grumbles. No. He won't. Jesus and the Bible character of Joseph and a thousand others assure us that what Satan intends for evil, God uses for good.
Do you believe that no evil is beyond God's reach? That He can redeem every pit, including this one in which you find yourself?("You'll Get Through This" - Max Lucado Quotes from book with same title)
Satan's full-time job is to steal, kill, and destroy lives. He wants yours. He is the master deceiver and lies are all he speaks. Don't be fooled by him. If you're Christ's child, Satan knows how precious you are to Jesus therefore, he wants to make you miserable, fearful, and destroy you so you can't help to further God's Kingdom. He knows you are important to the building of the Kingdom and wants you to become ineffective. He succeeds at this many times, but in Christ, he can never steal your soul. If you're Satan's child (and by the way you're either one or the other and Hell or Heaven is your final destination), he will do everything within his power to continue to lure you to sin and live according to the world's ways and blind you so he can steal your soul. "Consider how precious a soul must be, when both God and the devil are after it." (C. H. Spurgeon). His success rate is sky rocketing. Sadly, unaware to the takers.
A song by Third Day came on the radio, "CRY OUT TO JESUS"(click to listen). It too, caught my attention differently than previous times. It was Holy Saturday, the day after Good Friday. According to the Bible, Holy Saturday commemorates the day that Jesus Christ lay in the tomb after His death. Those lyrics made me think about Mary, Jesus' mother, and what it must've been like seeing her Son's death through her eyes...I imagined her crying out to Jesus, her Son; her heart aching for Him.
During this time, I was potting a cactus plant and pricked my thumb on one of it's needle's. My finger was also stuck with a thorn from a rose bush. Ow...that hurt! That caused me to think about Jesus' horrific death, I can't imagine what all He experienced. If one thorn hurts for a second or two, I really can't fathom what He endured for all of mankind's sin. But because I too have experienced the death of a child, I can imagine what Mary experienced, though not at all the same! The intense pain, I imagine, led her to cry out to Jesus day and night.
I can speculate and wonder about many things that happened that day, but I know this...when we cry out to Jesus, "He'll meet you wherever you are. When you're lonely and it feels like the whole world is falling on you, you just reach out, cry out to Jesus. There is hope for the helpless and rest for the weary and love for the broken heart. He'll meet you where ever you are, just cry out to Jesus." God hears our cries! "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).
Mary waited, along with everyone else, but her wait was different. Her relationship with Jesus was so different than anyone else's. She endured the long hours and the dark nights. Not at all like the wee hours of the night taking care of an infant. I can imagine an intense suffering that causes lack of sleep and hunger and not much strength to even pray. Sometimes all we can muster in these hard times is "Help me!" But that's all it takes with Jesus and He's right there. He is always near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18).
After waiting, three arduous days, Hope appeared. As Scripture says, weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5). The Bible says, early Sunday morning, Jesus had risen! They began to understand and in time started putting pieces together. Though Mary and the other disciples and followers were rejoicing, Jesus would leave again, but He assured them He would return the same way in which He ascended. He was going away so the Holy Spirit could come and be their Helper to get through life. He assured them He was going to prepare a place and would come back to get them. That didn't take the pain away though. I'm sure Mary wanted her pain to end as much as we do when when we're hurting or suffering. But, God's ways aren't ours. He wants us to want Him more than we want our pain to cease. He wants our heart wholly devoted to Him. He asks me to trust in Him and put ALL MY HOPE (click to listen) in Jesus.
"I know if You wanted to You could wave Your hand, spare me this heartache and change Your plan and I know any second You could take my pain away, but even if You don't I pray, help me want the Healer more than the healing, help me want the Savior more than the saving, help me want the Giver more than the giving, help me want You Jesus MORE THAN ANYTHING (click to listen). You know more than anyone my flesh is weak and you know I'd give anything for a remedy and I'll ask a thousand more times to set me free today, oh, but even if You don't I pray, help me want the Healer more than the healing. When I'm desperate and my heart's overcome all that I need You've already done." Natalie GrantWhat I loved about the card is even though I may not always be happy and like God's ways, His Word is Truth. Because I'm a daughter of the King, absolutely nothing can take away my joy and I will see Jesus and all those in Christ who have gone before me. I am praising the Lord in the midst of brokenness and pain because I know God redeems and restores. In Christ, my hope is sure, IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL(click to listen).
It's in our circumstances, ordained by God, that He uses the pain and suffering of this world to get our attention to teach us to rely and trust Him. As I was walking in the park one Spring morning thinking and praying, I noticed a sign that read, "slippery when wet." It caught my attention differently this time... I thought how our lives could be compared to the pathway I was walking on. As the rain pounds on the pavement, the surface can become slippery and unless you've paid attention to the sign and your footing is sure, you may fall. God doesn't want us to fall. That's why He gave us His Word to warn and encourage us. But the rain can beat down so hard that it causes us to become "slippery when wet," when we aren't prepared. We can lose our footing and fall never to recover; never to reach out to God. Or, we can stand and let it soak into our life and be awakened or renewed by it so we can grow and mature. When difficult times come we have one of two options. Learn and grow or wither and be useless or die. We can bloom where we are planted or we can take up space and just survive and be of little or no use. It's our choice. We can choose to exist and take up space or we can choose joy and the abundant life. I choose JOY (click to listen).
Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
Because God's love is so great, He gave His only Son to endure a violent storm to change the world so we might come to a saving knowledge of Him. Left alone, we wouldn't see our need for Him and would continue to live for ourselves. He knows our perspective needs to change to see more like He does. He knows how to cultivate the soil of each heart. He knows how deep to go and how long it will take. God uses these circumstances so hearts will be desperate for Him and be satisfied in Him The Enemy comes to destroy our life, but Jesus died so we might have life and have it more abundantly...forever (John 10:10)
When God desires to create more power in your life, He creates more friction. He uses this pressure to generate spiritual power. Some people cannot handle it, and run from the pressure instead of receiving the power and using it to rise above the painful experience that produced it. A.B. Simpson
His love for us is immeasurable and because of that love He disciplines us just like an earthly father would to develop our character. He wants us to know Him more and enjoy Him forever.
In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I've overcome the world (John 16:33).
Because I'm a daughter of the King, absolutely nothing can take away my joy in Jesus Christ. I am praising the Lord in the midst of brokenness and heartache because I know God redeems and restores. In Christ, my hope is secure and confident and He is my Peace.
P.S. I've mentioned before about the lies I start to believe prior to publishing these posts and how Satan sometimes uses that I think to detour me away from writing. I wanted to share in closing, that I struggled with that again! This post was all but finished a week after the March 2018 post. The farther it got away from Easter I thought it's too late for this, but God kept bringing it to my mind. About a week later, I heard a Charles Stanley radio broadcast that was very convicting titled, "The Landmine of Fear." I never really realized my fearfulness of some things until I heard that. He talked of the consequences of fear, one being that it stifles your creativity. He said, "People have abilities and talents they never enjoy because of fear; anything that keeps you from being who God created you to be, doesn't fit who you are. And point two... procrastination. He described procrastination as being afraid of doing something the wrong way or not living up to one's expectations that they just don't do anything. They become indecisive. They can't make a decision because they're afraid to make the wrong one. They are willing to suffer the guilt of not doing it, then to try and fail; suppose this, suppose that, suppose, suppose, suppose. That resonated with me! So, after hearing that message and hearing a song by Rend Collective called, "COUNTING EVERY BLESSING,"(click to listen). That's what really spoke to me. After the song played, the radio announcer said, "We don't have to wait until Thanksgiving to count our blessings. We have much to be thankful for." Thank you, Lord for all You've done for us.
God speaks to us when our ears and hearts are open to hear. I "heard" God say last year, "It doesn't have to be Easter Sunday to celebrate Jesus' resurrection and post this. Every day is Easter because Christ is risen, and He lives! Hallelujah!
Happy Resurrection Sunday.
When God desires to create more power in your life, He creates more friction. He uses this pressure to generate spiritual power. Some people cannot handle it, and run from the pressure instead of receiving the power and using it to rise above the painful experience that produced it. A.B. Simpson
His love for us is immeasurable and because of that love He disciplines us just like an earthly father would to develop our character. He wants us to know Him more and enjoy Him forever.
In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I've overcome the world (John 16:33).
Because I'm a daughter of the King, absolutely nothing can take away my joy in Jesus Christ. I am praising the Lord in the midst of brokenness and heartache because I know God redeems and restores. In Christ, my hope is secure and confident and He is my Peace.
The card stayed on my windowsill many months to remind me of those three promises I'm still holding onto.
One, I will see Jesus. Two, I will rejoice. And, three, no one will take away my joy
One, I will see Jesus. Two, I will rejoice. And, three, no one will take away my joy
(John 16:22). The Devil thought he could. His end is coming. Read Revelation...you'll see.
I may not always be happy and like God's ways, but His Word is Truth and the Promiser keeps His promises. Today, we are one day closer to eternity. I hope and pray you are on the right side, the Light side.
When all hope seems gone...cry out to Jesus. He will come to your rescue!
When all hope seems gone...cry out to Jesus. He will come to your rescue!
P.S. I've mentioned before about the lies I start to believe prior to publishing these posts and how Satan sometimes uses that I think to detour me away from writing. I wanted to share in closing, that I struggled with that again! This post was all but finished a week after the March 2018 post. The farther it got away from Easter I thought it's too late for this, but God kept bringing it to my mind. About a week later, I heard a Charles Stanley radio broadcast that was very convicting titled, "The Landmine of Fear." I never really realized my fearfulness of some things until I heard that. He talked of the consequences of fear, one being that it stifles your creativity. He said, "People have abilities and talents they never enjoy because of fear; anything that keeps you from being who God created you to be, doesn't fit who you are. And point two... procrastination. He described procrastination as being afraid of doing something the wrong way or not living up to one's expectations that they just don't do anything. They become indecisive. They can't make a decision because they're afraid to make the wrong one. They are willing to suffer the guilt of not doing it, then to try and fail; suppose this, suppose that, suppose, suppose, suppose. That resonated with me! So, after hearing that message and hearing a song by Rend Collective called, "COUNTING EVERY BLESSING,"(click to listen). That's what really spoke to me. After the song played, the radio announcer said, "We don't have to wait until Thanksgiving to count our blessings. We have much to be thankful for." Thank you, Lord for all You've done for us.
God speaks to us when our ears and hearts are open to hear. I "heard" God say last year, "It doesn't have to be Easter Sunday to celebrate Jesus' resurrection and post this. Every day is Easter because Christ is risen, and He lives! Hallelujah!
Happy Resurrection Sunday.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
If you are battling with depression, addiction, or suicidal thoughts, please know YOU ARE NOT ALONE! You are not weak for admitting your need for help! You are not a burden to anyone! Don't believe the lies in your head! YOU ARE LOVED, but more importantly, you are loved by God, your Maker. Help IS available. Choose to talk to someone, share your feelings and get help!
