Monthly Archives: March 2020

3 Promises You Need to Hear During This Crisis

Frustrations and Fears

My eight-year-old, Madison, is usually pretty good about working through her subjects for school independently. This morning, however, was a different story. This morning, Language was her undoing. It wasn’t even that hard of an assignment, but she just couldn’t get it. The frustration came first, then the tears. As soon as I saw the tears, I knew she must be tired. She doesn’t cry that often and usually not over her school.

Matt saw her struggling and asked her to come and sit on his lap. He just held her while he continued working. When she had calmed down, I directed her to the table, where I had paint cards, paints, and paintbrushes set out. We changed up the schedule and got right to painting. Soon Madison was smiling at the table and painting. It wasn’t too long before I heard her giggling. I smiled because I knew she had made it past her crisis of the morning.

With this whole coronavirus deal, I think most of us feel how Madison felt this morning… simply at the end of our rope. We feel pushed past our limits, frustrated, and fearful. If you feel that way, I have good news for you. You’re not alone! Not only do I share those same feelings with you, but Paul totally understood what it felt like to endure hardships. He gives us some encouragement for going through hard times in I Corinthians.

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. I Corinthians 10:13 MSG

Paul writes that God has three conditions for His testing and trials in our lives. It’s not just “anything goes.” He has three promises for us when going through a trial. Understanding these three promises help fortify us to stand strong and endure.

1. God promises there is nothing you can go through that somebody else hasn’t already been through.

Solomon says in Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. Sometimes that’s frustrating because we want to be different. We want to feel like nobody has ever had it as bad as we have it, but that’s simply not the truth. We have to remind ourselves, somebody has already been through what I am going through.

That can give us incredible encouragement. When Satan tries to discourage you and whispers that you have it worse than anybody else, remind yourself that you don’t. If others have made it through this, then you can too.

A way to get the focus off of your problems is to focus on who you can help, even in the midst of your trial. Who else has it worse than you do right now? I promise, if you look hard enough, you can always find someone who has it worse. Focus on them. Focusing on others in the midst of your own pain is a sure way to be encouraged.

2. God promises you won’t be pushed past what you can handle.

This is so encouraging! God says He won’t let something happen to you that will absolutely crush you. Even though it may feel that way right now, this trial won’t destroy you. God has complete control of your life and circumstances, and he won’t allow that to happen. Paul, of all people, was the best person to hear this from. Paul endured many trials and hardships. If he said God won’t give you more than you can handle, he knows what he’s talking about.

So when you’re tempted to fold under the discouragement and helplessness you feel, when you want to crawl back into bed and not face the pressure and challenges of today, remember this — God has made you strong enough to get through this and whatever else is coming. God said he won’t allow you to be given more than you can handle, and you can take God at His Word. So push away those thoughts and remind yourself that you are strong in Christ.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:13 KJV

3. God promises He will walk through this trial with you.

Finally, in the midst of this trial, remember the most important point. God has promised His presence in your trial.

For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” Hebrews 13:5 NLT

Even when it feels that God is the furthest away, know that He is with you. What about when it feels like He isn’t? That’s when faith steps in. It’s easy to forget that it takes faith to live this life. The same faith it took to put your trust in God to save you is the same faith you need to choose to believe He is still with you when you are in the midst of this trial. You have to choose to believe that He will see this through to the end of this.

Journaling Prompts

One of the best things we can do when going through a difficult season of life is to process our thoughts through journaling. I have created a journaling worksheet you can download for free HERE. This download includes a journaling worksheet and 12 verses to claim. I am a huge advocate of journaling! It helps so much to process what you are going through.

If you enjoyed this post, check out last week’s post- Can You Really Find Hope in a Crisis?

Can You Really Find Hope In a Crisis?

God Hasn’t Forgotten You

I am here to remind you that God hasn’t forgotten you. He sees what your family is going through. Knowing the future, He can see how this loss of income is going to set your family back. He knows that you are fearful for your family member with the weakened immune system.

Remember Hagar, from Genesis? Hagar was Sarah’s servant. When Sarah saw she couldn’t bear any children, she told her husband Abraham to sleep with Hagar. Hagar gets pregnant, and Sarah gets mad. Hagar experiences her own crisis. Sarah sends her out into the desert, and Hagar fears she and her son are going to die there. So Hagar sits down and cries. God comes to Hagar and tells her to go back to Abraham and Sarah. He tells her that He is going to bless her and her son. Hagar responds, “You are the God who sees me.”

She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me! Genesis 16:13 MSG

Hagar was amazed that God saw her in her time of need. El Roi is the Hebrew name for God meaning, “the God who sees me.” In the midst of this crisis, be reminded that God sees you. He hasn’t forgotten you, and He will see you through this difficult time.

God is Still Good

One of my favorite songs right now is I Know by Big Daddy Weave. Here are the words to the chorus.

I know that you are good
I know that you are kind
I know that you are so much more
Than what I leave behind
I know that I am loved
I know that I am safe
Cause even in the fire to live is Christ, to die is gain
I know that you are good
I Know by Big Daddy Weave

The lyrics don’t do it justice. You need to listen to it! When life goes crazy all around us, we are tempted to look around and question God’s goodness. We think thoughts like, “If God were good, He wouldn’t…” Consequently, this just makes us more discouraged. Don’t let your mind go there. Instead, choose to focus on God’s goodness.

An easy way to focus on God’s goodness is to take five minutes each morning in the days and weeks to come to write down three things you are thankful for. After a few days of this, you will begin to remember that God’s goodness is interwoven into every area of our lives.

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13 KJV

If we choose not to believe in God’s goodness, we will give up and feel powerless to move forward. We have to focus on God’s goodness. Remind ourselves of who He is, and focus on Him, not our circumstance.

This Will Come to End

The coronavirus crisis won’t last forever. Soon enough, we will be wearing t-shirts that say, “I Survived the Coronavirus of 2020!” Just like everything else in life, this will pass. Peter reminds us of this in I Peter.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: I Peter 1:6 KJV

The three words for a season reminds us that nothing is forever. Trials and hard times come and go. Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes that there is a season and a time for everything. Just as God has gotten you through trials in the past, He will carry you through this crisis.

When we understand that God hasn’t forgotten us, choose to focus on God’s goodness, and remember this won’t last forever, we can find the hope we need to get through this crisis.

Othe Encouragement

If you enjoyed this post, check out my book, The Hidden Pain: When You Fear God Is No Longer Blessing Your Life. This book is an encouragement for anyone going through a difficult season, and that includes all of us right now.

Start Pursuing Your Dream, Part 1

A Little Girl’s Dream

As a young girl, I dreamed of being a writer. I loved to read, and I thought it would be so amazing to be an author when I grew up. Then life happened. I grew up. That dream became just a little girl’s dream and I moved on to real life.

Fast forward thirty years later. In the past several years I have really wanted to do something to help bring in an income for our family. I dreamed and journaled and brainstormed what that could look like. I tried my hand at lots of different things. First, I got on a cake and cupcake kick for a little while. I learned how to make fondant and experimented with that. Then I researched gift baskets and how I could make those and sell them. After that, I tried sewing for a while and made bags. I loved them and had fun making them, but it took more time than I had to give. Eventually, I stopped.

My Dream Came True

I started my blog a few years ago. My dream was to have a business with products to sell. I had my blog and wasn’t sure what else to do with it. Somewhere along the way, the dream I had as a little girl made its way back to my thoughts. I started thinking. What if I could write a book? What would that look like? How would I do it? Would anybody buy it? I finally sat down one day and wrote the first chapter.

Last year, I rolled out my first book, Red Rose Rising. I followed that up with a Christian inspirational book, The Hidden Pain. Now in just a few weeks, my third book will roll out. On the one hand, it was amazing because my dreams were coming true. I was finally an author. But can I be honest? It didn’t make things perfect. This is the first of a two-part blog post. In the next post, I will talk about continuing to pursue your dream. It’s awesome to establish your business, create your first product, and make your first sale. But then reality sets in. You have to keep creating. Then you have to figure out sales tax and income tax. You have to put money back into your product or business. You have to deal with people who don’t care for your product. Sometimes, it’s too much and we are tempted to give up on our dream. I will talk about all this in part two.

God’s Gift to Us

I am doing a study in the book of Ecclesiastes right now. Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books in the Bible. These verses stood out to me this week.

After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live. Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 MSG

God gives us the ability to work hard and enjoy the profit from our work. It’s His gift. So why shouldn’t we enjoy the work we are doing? God didn’t create us uniquely with a combination of personality, abilities, talents, and interests that are different from anybody else so that we could just show up at work and punch a clock. Nor did He design us to just exist. I believe God gives all of us a dream too big to accomplish on our own. He does that so we are forced to depend on him.

What’s Your Dream?

What dream do you have? Is there something God has laid on your heart to do? Is there something you have always wanted to do? If money and time weren’t a factor, what would you do? What would you create?

God gives each of us a free will. He gifts us with abilities and talents and passions. Why? So that we can use them to glorify Him with what we do or create. If God didn’t want us to be creative, he wouldn’t have given us the abilities he has. If God has given you an ability or talent or a passion to pursue something, it’s not so you can sit back and not use it. God does everything for a reason. If He gave you a talent, he wants you to use it.

Do you feel stuck at your job, frustrated with your life, or just feel like you’re missing something? Maybe it’s time to put your hand to whatever you know God is leading you to do.

If you want to want help discovering your own dream, read my post Six Steps to Finding God’s Purpose for Your Life. Sometimes you just need help to get pointed in the right direction. You can download a worksheet in that post that helps you work through a process to determine how God’s gifted you so that you can find and start pursuing your own dream.

It’s time to start pursuing that dream of yours!

Faithfully Stepping

Encouragement for Women on their Journey of Faith