" Your daughter had another rage." " Your not my REAL mom!" " You were never my REAL family!" " This is the worst family in the whole world!" " You have never loved us."
What does your heart do when those words are spoken? What do you feel? Do we cry because their heart is hurting? Do we yell and scream because we feel so helpless?...WHAT DO WE DO?!?
These are questions that I ask myself daily as do many, many other families. Many of us deal with children who rage on a daily basis and may of us deal with hurting hearts that are aching for acceptance and feeling whole and like they belong and no matter how much we love, no matter how much we forgive or teach or hug or listen...those hearts still feel hurt inside.... and it can feel so helpless at times so today I want to offer HOPE! What a beautiful word that is...HOPE! Many times we face things as parents that "seem" to have no good outcome. The "situation" we are in or the "issues" we face seem daunting and impossible...but they are not my friend.
God promises us several things as parents. When I am on my knees crying out to God because "this time" it is just TO MUCH...He brings me to these promises and with them comes that beautiful hope. I want to share these promises with you my friends because we all face things in our life every single day that "seem" to be hopeless, overwhelming, exhausting, and more, but things are rarely if ever what they "seem" because all of those feelings leave out God...who is a God of HOPE! Not despair. Not exhaustion. Not hopelessness. But a God of Hope!
First things first: Psalm 42:5 " Why are you downcast O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God." How does one," put their hope in God" exactly? How do we let go of the situation, issue, problem...and put our hope in God? It sounds so easy but I have struggled more with putting my hope in Him than with any other thing I believe! I am going to give you the top five promises of God that I cling to daily. He has many, many more but maybe these five will give you the hope you need to just get through this day...and the next.
SO here is the first promise...Psalm 147:11 The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. He promises to delight in those of us who put our hope in HIS UNFAILING LOVE....the promise of HIS UNFAILING LOVE is pretty amazing! His love NEVER fails...not when we are at our weakest, not when we are at our most exhausted...not even when we are filled with hopelessness....it NEVER fails. We can count on that. We can stand on that. We can put our HOPE in that promise.
Promise number 2: Isaiah 40:31..."Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength." That weary feeling...that exhaustion...how I know it well! But we can stand on the promise that even though we may "feel" like we cannot take one. more. step....He promises us that our strength will be renewed. So many times we need to take a minute to go be by ourselves...and become renewed. I have hidden myself in the closet many times just because it is quiet and away and I need to talk to God there! My girls know now that when I go into the closet, it is serious time between me and God:)It's a good thing to teach our children to take time away from everything and everybody to spend time with Jesus. Don't be afraid to do this! Jesus taught us this Himself by getting away at times to pray. We as moms our the worst about taking that time for ourselves because we ALWAYS have something pressing to do but I am learning that by not taking that time with Him, I am robbing myself and my family of my strength being renewed. When you are exhausted and weary...go...be with Him. Grab your Bible and spend time with Him. He WILL renew you! He promises.
Promise number 3 is one of my favorites: 2 Peter 1:4 " Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."...oh how precious is this! That we may "participate" in the divine nature! That word "participate" means to be actively involved...to be DOING! TO be 100% included...in the DIVINE nature. But it doesn't stop there...it continues by telling us that through His promises we can escape the corruption in the world. He can teach us to be " in" but not "of".
Promise number 4: Jeremiah 29:11 " 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." I know that most of us know this verse by heart but I have really struggled with this verse sometimes because honestly there are many times when I don't see the Hope, the future, the prospering, the protection...and I question God as to how serious He is about this promise! So while researching this verse I found out that this promise comes after Israel had been in captivity for 70 years!! That is a long time friends! Sometimes when we are walking through a season of hardship, sorrow, or hopelessness, it seems to take FOREVER to get through but we have His promise that it will end. And a new season will begin. A season of Jeremiah 29:11.
And promise number 5: Romans 8: 37-39 " No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither heights nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There are so many promises wrapped up in this verse! In those moments when we feel alone and are certain with every fiber that no one understand what we are going through...we can stand on this promise. NOTHING will separate us from the love of God. We are MORE than conquerors....not just a conqueror...but MORE than that! We have hope. This is the perfect verse to insert all your problems, all your issues, all your struggles...and say out loud that you are MORE than a conqueror in those things and that you are not alone. You cannot be separated from the love of God. So many times we let our feelings dictate our joy for the day. I know I let my situation decided how I face the day...with hope or with stress. But God's word tells us that we can face each and every day with hope.
I have also learned that facing a day with hope does not mean that we will be jumping up and down with hands clapping every time we face something hard! That is not what the word hope means. Hearing any of the words that I started this blog with can be hurtful and painful. They can hurt your spirit. Feelings of failure can reach up and try to strangle you...but instead of letting those thoughts fill our heads and heart and steal our hope away...stand on these promises. If you need to cry...cry. If you need to question...question. God loves when we seek Him and search for Him...Give yourself grace to cry out to your Father in the middle of that frustration and then KNOW that He has heard you. You are not alone. I have had many beautiful moments with my King when my heart has been so heavy and the tears won't stop because I do not know what to do next...so I seek. I search. I grab His Word and I find Him.
I said from the beginning that this blog is about our real life and let me tell you, sometimes our life is hard! Sometimes the frustration of trying to bond with someone that will push you away every chance they can, becomes exhausting. Sometimes the yells and the screams and the hurt that comes from being abused is overwhelming. Sometimes the fear that you are doing everything wrong can be crippling...I have been in every bit of those moments. And still are at times. But I have also seen my God reach through my fear, block out the screams, knock away the exhaustion and bring HOPE. Even when others don't see it...it is there. Even when you don't see it...it is there. It is a promise. If I could leave you with one last thing it is this...read God's Word. Hunger for it. Thirst for it. Desire it. Long for it. Many times when we are in our most desperate moments, we search Dr. Phil, or google, or anything but His Word. God's Word is just that...the words, the thoughts, the heart of the King of Kings. The breath of the Great I Am! Let Him breathe it over you as you read it...God's Word is our key to Hope! I pray that as you read this, you will find that you are not alone and that maybe by now, you are feeling a little better than when you first started reading it. Not because of what I have said, but because God's Word is in here and it renews you. There is an old hymn that is very beautiful if you read the words... " Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit’s callResting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.
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