My Help Comes From the Lord

       "I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2; these words have echoed through my mind the last few days. My heart is aching and situations in my life are stressful right now, my car needs an expensive repair, and so does my husband's; the situations with my grandmother and aunt are worsening and we are beginning to look into assisted living for them, and there has been another family member recently who attempted to end their life, but thankfully he was stopped. It's heartbreaking to watch this all happening and feel helpless to do anything to make it better. To be unsure how you'll afford to fix your cars or if you could be doing more for those struggling around you.... but just when I feel like giving into the overwhelming grief and stress I have been feeling, when I feel like giving up, this verse comes back to me.

         I know what it feels like to be hopeless, I know what it feels like to want to give up, and I honestly can't say that it hasn't run across my mind in brief moments over the last few months; but I know the truth now and am able to overcome those feelings as I cling to my Father in heaven for comfort and I want that for others too. I want so much for others to know of God's love, this life changing love that gives me hope when things seem like they couldn't be worse and that the storm is never ending. I want people to know who Yeshua is and the price He paid for our freedom in Him, and I want people to know that because of what He did, hopelessness is a lie.  

       Psalm 34:19 says this: "The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all;" and I believe it, not because it is in the Bible (though I do believe the bible to be the truth) but because as I have gone to God and His word increasingly over the last 3-4 years He has proven it to me, and even longer than that if I'm truly honest with myself, I just couldn't see it then. Not only in my life, but also the lives of others I have known I have seen God fulfill His promises, and provide when there looked like there would be no provision. I have seen desperate situations changed overnight, but I have also walked thru months and years of struggle, and I know now that God was with me. I understand now that in those periods of struggle had I turned to God sooner instead of to other 'wordly' things for comfort I could have gotten through them much easier. I understand now, that our Father always provides away and I can rest on that knowledge no matter how bad it may seem.              

            Troubles may surround me, but my hope is in the Lord. I know He has promised good to those who love and serve Him (Romans 8:28);  and I know that He will work all this heartache and trouble into something beautiful, perhaps He is doing so right now, maybe this heartache that has sent me running to share my hope and my pain will lift someone else from the pit. I pray that is true, because that thought gives me comfort and makes the burden easier to bare. Be blessed brothers and sisters, and may your relationship with God be ever deepening.

Psalm 43:5   
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Isaiah 40:31   
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint

Romans 8:24-27
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God

Romans 12:12   
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer