Trusting In God In Times of Hopelessness

There was a young lady walking down the middle of the road. She had a glare of death upon her face as she walked bare foot drenched in sweat with a baby on her hip. While talking on a cell phone, a driver on her way to the store noticed her as she traveled the opposite way. The driver thought it was peculiar to see such young person walking in the middle of the road with a baby on her hip.

She flagged the cars approaching her to let them know to slow down so they would not hit the young mother and baby. Quickly, she went to the store and thought I should have stopped. As she returned to journey back home she saw that young girl again this time in tears. The lady slowed down while a car was behind her, she rolled down her window and yelled, “What’s wrong sweetheart?”

The young girl lifted the baby on her hip with tears rolling down her eyes and said, “Nothing, mam, I am okay.” She then pulled over and said to her, “No, something is wrong, you are crying, walking in the heat of the morning, with a baby on your hip, tell me what’s wrong, it can’t be that bad?”

The lady invited her in the car to find that she was a teen mother, struggling to buy diapers for her 8 month old son. The young girl walked down that long heated road, crying and yelling on the inside distraught with her life. The father of the child was forbidden to be a part of their life and she felt the pressure of not being able to provide for her son. They drove back to the store and she asked the young girl what she needed. The young girl pulled out a wrinkled up $10 bill in tears and called out a list that the $10 would not come close to covering. The woman went in the store bought all the items she requested and returned her home, invited her to church saying “Everything will be just fine. It is going to be some hard days but trust in God and He will help you through, just as He did today.”

This scenario captures my attention to David’s Psalm, he wrote “Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds,” Psalm 36:5. David was saying others may shut up their compassion, yet, with God there is always mercy available for the righteous. What great comfort there is to know our heavenly Father is merciful.

The young girl was distraught with her life. She had a baby and no father was there to help her support the child. She could not see any way to stretch the $10 she had to get her baby what she needed. I imagined she walked down the long road wishing she could change back the hands of time.

There are many things we have done against the will of the Father but God is still merciful and reaches out to us. Today many people who have made mistakes and walk around miserable wishing, “if I could go back to that moment prior to that decision.” Yet what is done is done.

Consider changing your focus on the mercy that waits for you from the Lord. Call upon God to meet you in your area of weakness. Ask the Father to hold you as you lift yourself to Him, trusting God while not being ashamed in your time of despair. Trust as David trusted “though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand,” (Psalm 37:24).

Are You Planning

During a conversation a man told me his wife stepped out to buying groceries while he was home while the children napping. She takes her time grocery shopping as her cell phone rings consistently. After the 3rd ring tone she answers the phone. It was her husband in a panic saying, "the kids are up, what am I going to do with them?"

This scenario is common for many households. Once the parent that typically instructs the children is gone for a moment the other is seeking a plan to get the children out and about.

Often times many seek a plan after things are in motion, instead of prior. Before you were created God already had a plan in place for you. God does not create something and then set a plan in motion. He has a plan before the creation.

My mind is captured by the calling of Jeremiah. In the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah God spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah saying "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations," Jeremiah 1:5.

God was basically saying to Jeremiah, prior to your birth I chose you and made you different and gave you the position as a prophet. He was to serve not only the Jews but neighboring nations also.

Jeremiah was a young boy and I imagine him wondering, who am I to follow out such task. God came to Jeremiah to give him confidence to let him know I have the blue print for the directions I have given you.

Have you wondered how to get to one point, yet not considered planning from the beginning? Maybe you are in motion to a certain destination and wonder why things are bumpy along the way. Possibly you jump into projects without reading the directions initially.

Consider seeking God first before setting out. Pray to God to guide you to your purpose. Ask God to reveal what He has positioned you to do in life, for we all have a purpose in life.