Tag: trust

The “O” Path to Hope

~ Barbara ~ 1 Comment

This may be the most challenging path on the journey to restoring hope. More than a change of focus and attitude, the “O” path calls for forward movement: Open your Heart to God’s Opportunities. It asks us to trust God’s plans.

“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.”

We love these words from Jeremiah 29:11… until we are asked to step into the unknown. But what’s the alternative for broken people? Remain where we are, weeping and regretting? Prosperity, hope, and a future are plans we cannot afford to ignore. Let’s trust God.

God never changes, but His methods are fluid, and His timelines are His secret. Will we be open enough, flexible enough, daring enough to follow Him into uncharted territory?… 

When God entrusts us with visions and dreams, they are not ours to mold according to our understanding. They are His to unfold in His time, according to His wisdom. He often inspires dreams for reasons we don’t understand, and when He brings us down an unexpected path, we have a choice. We can yield to our fears and seal the door of our hearts, or in faith, we can throw the door open and invite the Spirit to accomplish purposes known only to Him. Every twist, diversion, or detour leads to a future He alone sees. Hiding behind the safety of closed doors will rob us of the joy of obedience…

The good plans God prepared for us need space and freedom to grow. He doesn’t impose them on us—we need to accommodate them and rid ourselves of emotional chaos. If former hopes and dreams have changed, it’s time to clean house and make room for the new…

My testimony is this:

An open heart became an open door for God’s opportunity, and hope persevered through the darkness.

I hope this encourages you to trust God in the unknown and step into your future.

Excerpts from I Was Broken, Too, chapters five and six.
Image by Cara Shelton from Pixabay

Now available on Amazon:
I Was Broken, Too: Four Paths to Restore Hope
Finding Hope: 65 Meditations for a Broken Heart

More about Joy

~ Barbara ~ 7 Comments

Meet David. He is our 46-year-old son, our fourth child. David has many limitations, the chief ones are his inability to speak and his intellectual simplicity. But he has many assets, such as faith, a worshiping heart, and JOY. He is the happiest person I know.

There is no problem or distress too big for God, so David prays. About everything. And then he walks away with joy because God’s got this. You may have skimmed over the words “about everything.” That is not an exaggeration.  

On our way to church Sunday morning, we saw two police cars with flashing lights. One officer was headed to the back of the house, the other to the front door. Prayer is as natural as breathing for David. He folded his hands to signify that we needed to pray. We prayed for the people who had a problem, for wisdom for the police, for safety for all involved. Amen.

No, not amen. This was not enough for David. He signed “Jesus.” The prayer wasn’t over until we asked that everyone involved would know Jesus. David’s faith was activated, and his joy was complete. Amen.

So I ask, could I be the deficient person? Me, with my great understanding, who can stress over media reports, or personal bad news that drains my joy? It’s certainly not David. His simple prayers are enough for any stressful situation because he lives Nehemiah 8:10:

“Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Personal Peace

~ Barbara ~ 3 Comments

Anxiety is a cruel taskmaster. His minions accompany him: tension, worry, panic, dread. They afflict us with wild imaginations, edginess, and sleeplessness. I found only one remedy—a change of focus that shifts our eyes from what we see to the One who is above it all.

In my book, I Was Broken, Too, I wrote a section about the importance of Holding your Eyes Higher, and referred to Israel’s fears and feelings of abandonment while in captivity. Isaiah gave them simple but sage advice: “Look up into the heavens.”

He followed this with a question, “Who created all the stars?” Then he assured them that God “brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of His great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing” (Isa 40:26). Like the stars, God created us. He knows each of our names and has not lost or forgotten a single one of us.

Look up, my friend. Don’t focus on what you see on Earth’s level, because there is always more at play than we can see. God is sovereignly in control. He has a plan and the power and authority to execute it. As your Creator, He knows you better than you know yourself. His purposes will not be thwarted. We cannot comprehend the wonder of His intentions or the glory of His objectives.

Wars, on battlefields and in our hearts, are in His control. Answers are in place before we ask. Trust Him; your survival depends on it.

  • Pray about everything and thank Him, and His peace will guard your heart and mind (Philippians 4:6-7).
  • Believe Jesus’ promise to gift you with peace of mind and heart that is unlike anything the world knows. Let His words comfort you: “Don’t be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27)
  • Share Isaiah’s confidence in God and declare, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (Isaiah 26:3)

Personal peace can be ours when we choose to shift our focus from here to there, from what we physically see to what we spiritually believe. I leave you with this blessing from 2 Thessalonians 3:16:

Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you His peace
at all times and in every situation.
The Lord be with you all.

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Embarking on “Hard-Ship”

~ Barbara ~ 1 Comment

Hard-ship is the vessel no one wants to board. When we hear the alert: “Rough waters ahead,” we batten down the hatches and prepare for a storm. When health, relationship, or financial crises threaten, we shudder at the thought of facing choppy waters, but storms are unavoidable. No one goes through life without them.

Hard-ship is the barge that slowly pushes forward with its heavy load. The only way to safely move ahead and avoid a shipwreck is to put our trust in God.

Remarkably, we can have peace in the storm, despite the enormity of the unwelcome load. We can be assured of safekeeping and confident in the promise that God mysteriously makes all things work together for our blessing (Romans 8:28). We are merely crew members with limited control of our ship or our destiny. But we have a Captain who is in full control! He has power, capabilities, and knowledge we cannot fathom.

Let Him be our focus in the midst of a storm.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, 
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7