Could one or more of these four emails come close to describing your situation? One thing, I’ve learned over the past 30+ years of ministry is that life is full of mistakes, sorrows, difficulties, obstacles and disappointments. The last two years during the pandemic added additional stress, tragedy and chaos.
These past fifteen or sixteen months have been full of stumbles. When you consider how the pandemic has taken the lives of more than 600,000 Americans and impacted the health of millions more. COVID-19 devastated our economy, closed businesses, eliminated thousands of jobs, made it dangerous to simply be out in public, temporarily closed churches, schools, restaurants, movie theaters, sporting events and the list goes on and on…
As a pastor, I see so many examples of miraculous healing, but I also witnessed more situations where a miraculous healing was wished for, prayed for but the answer was not what was hoped for. One example happened many years ago in a small town near Amelia, Virginia.
Years ago, someone sent me several emails, no one ever wants to see. “I know I just sent in a prayer request, but I am scared. I am not afraid to die. I am afraid to live!” She shared a poem illustrating the darkness and emptiness she was feeling while struggling to hear from and understand God:
This story could represent someone in your community, at your workplace, in your neighborhood, within your family. Someone feeling unloved and hopeless enough to seriously contemplate taking his or her own life. What should we do? How can I help? What should you say?
The dictionary defines trust as: “a confident reliance on the integrity, honesty or justice of another.” Trust for me was a confident reliance on the skills of my dentist.
Each person faced multiple problems of low income, attending school, leading a church, maintaining a family life and trying to spend personal time with God. In any other profession, this would be a formula for disaster. Yet, each one was passionate about the future and their relationship with God.
Most people wear their worry like a badge of honor. But surrendering to worry is a sin dangerous enough to ruin our physical and spiritual vitality and drain our lives of hope and joy.
Yet, knowing all that, I still worry, a lot!
The courage of David is not found in slingshots vs. armor or brains vs. brawn. There is no guarantee that a David will always defeat Goliath. Rather it is David’s willingness to do what is right, wherever that leads and whatever the consequences.
Looking for words of encouragement, I typed the word “comfort” in a Bible program on my computer. In seconds, there were over 60 verses. I clicked print and received five pages of comforting scripture. At a Bible study, I handed each person a copy and asked them to pick a favorite verse and tell how they received comfort in the midst of crisis.