My Help Comes from the Lord

I don’t watch the news. I think I stopped almost 10 years ago, maybe. The news is what you watch when you really want a sobering look at the world we live in. There are murders, child abusers and sickness that kills you not to mention that political spew that doesn’t mean a hills of beans when people are dying. It’s enough to cause me to never leave the house again. 

Lately, I don’t have to watch the news to know how scary the world is at this moment in time. Or may not “scary”, but sad. Just plain heart breaking how some days can be this year. This morning I sat in prayer for a friend of an Instagram friend (oh the joys of the internet) who lost her 6 year old son suddenly. He developed a cough and lost consciousness on the way to the hospital. By the time they got him intubated he had been without oxygen for awhile and tests showed that he had no brain activity. Can you imagine? As a mother I could just sit and cry all day thinking about this family and others who have lost their babies. 

Man, life just stinks sometimes. 

So what do we do? 

How do we deal with when it seams like the world is spinning out of control and we are just hanging on with all we have? How do with live normally and not just hug our babies every second of the day in fear that they will be taken from us? I ask in tears as I type this - how? 

About a year ago I was visited by two older women (late 60s I believe) who knocked on my door and asked what I thought about the shape our world is in and all the sin of the world. I told them that “this is not my home.” I mean it was my home that I was standing in, my husband owned it and it was where I lived. I meant this earth, here, anywhere besides Heaven in not my home. And I believe that it won’t get better until Jesus returns and takes us all to our true home. We will continue to face the trials, the heartaches and the fears while we are here. 

Can you believe that one of the women wouldn’t take it. She had the nerve to tell me that Jesus isn’t enough. Now, I am not going to go into a religious debate right here and I didn’t with her. I politely said that is what we believe in our home and you may want to mosey on to the next house, but we aren’t interested in anything that tells me other than Jesus is my savior. Thank you. 

Let me come back around to my point and I hope I haven’t lost too many people. Oh man, I know it’s hard to hear that God never leaves us during the hard times and he has plan for our growth from all the crud that we live through. Trust me when I say I know. I have lost people who meant the world to me, I’ve gotten down on my knees and begged the Lord to please make it all be a terrible dream. I’ve also come out of the other side of grief when I never thought it would happen. I wish I could tell you exactly how I lived through the pain of losing one of my best friends. It’s not easy I still ache for him today, but it’s different. 

Urgh, that is not where I wanted to go with this. You can read all about James here: click here. 

Let’s go back to trials because we all seem to be in one, some are shaped differently than others. I’m actually reading through my bible as a type trying to find morsels of things to keep us (you and me) going. 

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, (oh yes I know that is a tough pill to swallow during the first stages of grief)

because we know that suffering produces perseverance: perseverance, character; and character, hope.  

So, Suffering (the bad stuff) produces Perseverance (steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success - we continue to get up, to live, to push forward in life with a broken heart). 

Then this Perseverance builds -or creates- Character (oh, is that where I get it? Seriously, though, Matt lost his first wife to cancer and he is an amazing man today because of that loss and because of the mark his life (yet short) with his first wife made on him).

Character then brings Hope. That hope is what I tried to share with the women graced my doorway. 

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:3-5

So, I’m telling you (and myself) to not lose Hope in the world in which we live. Though, this is not our home, and things will not be peaceful until He returns, know with all your heart and soul and mind that He has this. He’s got it - He knows the beginning and the end to each of our stories. 

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills-

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth. 

He will not let your foot slip-

he who watches you will not slumber; 

indeed, he who watches over Israel will not slumber nor sleep. 

The Lord watches over you-

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm-

he will watch over your life; 

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forever more

Take 3 minutes (and 32 seconds) and let this speak to your heart, please. 

Let me end with a request: Pray for me. Pray for Michelle Smith who I mentioned above. Pray for the Smith family as they process and handle the passing of young Luke. Pray for the sick, the lost and man just pray for everything on the news. And let me know how I can pray for you.