Category: Encouragement

why??


“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
    Why are You so far from saving me,
from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer,
    and by night, but I find no rest.

3 Yet You are holy,
    enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In You our fathers trusted;
    they trusted, and You delivered them.
5 To You they cried and were rescued;
    in You they trusted and were not put to shame.“

Psalm 22:1-5

I’ve said this before, but I am soooooo thankful for the honesty of scripture. I’m thankful God didn’t hide the cries, doubts, and prayers uttered by His people in desperation. It reminds us that we are not alone: He sees and He has not forsaken us amidst brokenness and pain.

In the first 2 verses of Psalm 22 David expresses that he feels forgotten and forsaken … God seems far, salvation seems impossible, and David is questioning if God is even listening. David cannot rest; he’s hopeless and distraught.

Twice David cries out “Why?”

Isn’t that a question we’ve all asked… “Why *fill in the blank*?”

David’s honesty reminds me that God is big enough for our “why’s.” You do not need to hide your questions or your struggles for fear that God will be disappointed. How do I know this?? Because Jesus Himself echoed the words of David on the cross when He cried: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

We will go through times when we question God’s purpose and wonder why it had to be *this* way. Couldn’t He accomplish His will and plan in a different way?!

But, where do we go from there? When we have these emotions, doubts, and questions, we have a choice: Do we stay focused on everything that hasn’t gone as planned, stay angry at God, and allow the questions to pull us further from Him??

OR do we bring our emotions to God, cry out to Him, remind ourselves of the truth of who He is, and recall His past faithfulness to us and to others??

There are many times when the temptation is strong to stay angry and allow my heart to grow hardened and calloused towards God. My mind can begin to think: He’s not hearing me, He’s forgotten me…

But then, much like David, I have to remind myself: “YET You are holy.”

What is your “yet??” The thing that, even if it doesn’t come to pass, you will still proclaim “YET You are holy.” Despite the confusion, doubt, and questions God does not change. He is the SAME yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) He is still holy: which means He is set apart, sinless, and His ways are perfect. His thoughts are higher than ours and we will not always understand what He is doing or why. (Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalm 115:3)

I’ll never forget hearing a sister in Christ share her testimony of how the Lord was walking with her through the heartbreaking loss of her dear husband. She shared this quote from Spurgeon that has never left my memory: “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”

God is big enough to handle our questions, doubts, and fears. But don’t forget that He also has so much more for us! When we walk through doubt it forces us to examine our expectations of who we believed Jesus to be and realize who He truly is. We talked about doubt at church this weekend and my dad shared: “When we walk through doubt, don’t abandon Jesus. Abandon your expectations of Jesus.” When we bring our doubt to God He will use it to refine and deepen our knowledge of who He really is and strip away the false expectations we had of Him!!

We shouldn’t ignore our emotions, but we also should not let them lead or dictate our beliefs and actions. Instead, we should allow our emotions to lead us to the Truth.

In verse 3 David reminds himself of truth and of the power of praise. “[You are] enthroned on the praises of Israel.” God is enthroned, seated, and exalted on the praise of His people. When we choose to worship Him, amidst these emotions, He is glorified and HIS PRESENCE IS THERE.

Lastly, in verses 4 and 5, David reminds Himself of God’s faithfulness to generations past. They trusted and God delivered and rescued. Their trust was not in vain. They were not put to shame.

“Shame” means disappointed, humiliated, confused, unsettled…

I think at the core of many of my doubts and questions is the fact that I don’t want to feel shame for trusting in God. I don’t want others to look at my life and think “oh, look at what trusting in God gets you….” For a long time I wanted my life to measure up to the standard I thought others had for me so I could say “yes! God did that!” and give Him glory for getting what I wanted.

But what about when you don’t get what you wanted???
When your prayer isn’t being answered??

I’m learning that, in those times of uncertainty, you have an even greater opportunity to glorify Jesus. You can say “No, I don’t have _______, but I have Jesus, and now I KNOW that He is all I need.” I haven’t always been able to say that with joy and contentment, but, looking back, I praise God that He didn’t give me the things I thought I needed. Even though it hurt and felt like I was being forgotten or left out, I would’ve never been where I am today without those seasons. It’s easy to give Jesus praise for answered prayers, but what about giving Him glory before the answer?

Following Jesus will cost sacrificing your timeline, your plans, and control. But what you receive in exchange for that surrender is “exceedingly abundantly above all” you could ever ask or think!! (Ephesians 3:20)

And now, I can say with full confidence, that the peace, contentment, and joy I have found in Jesus cannot compare with anything this world has to offer. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my hard days and doubts but I’m learning that God knows better and He can be trusted. God’s thoughts towards us are the only ones that matter so don’t seek to impress, please, or prove yourself to others.

And, please remember that:
The tears you cry are not in vain.
The prayers you’ve prayed are not in vain.
Your trust in God is not in vain.
Your patience is not in vain.
Your faith is not in vain.

I want to end with Psalm 25:3; I love how each of these versions phrases this verse slightly differently:

Let no one who waits on You be ashamed (NKJV)
None who waits for You shall be put to shame (ESV)
No one who trusts in You will ever be disgraced (NLT)
No one who hopes in You will ever be put to shame (NIV)


even when you feel lost, lonely, confused, or unsettled
your patience, trust & hope in the Lord will never be wasted. <3


hopeful or hardened hearts


“Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness.”
— Katherine Henson

You wanna know a miracle I’ve overlooked my whole life, until recently? The miracle of keeping a hopeful heart in a hardened world.

Have you ever felt yourself growing cynical or complacent as a response to hurt? Maybe your hopes have been crushed and you don’t want to pick up the shattered pieces… Has it ever felt more painful to hope so you’re tempted to stop all together?

Lately God has placed people in my life who have shared their stories with me and each time I’ve walked away thinking: “if they kept going, so can I.” While hearing their experiences I would think to myself: “After what you walked through I may have quit: on church, on people, on relationships… I would’ve put up walls and hardened my heart.” But, they didn’t, and God is working in their lives in ways they never would’ve seen if they had quit and now their lives are preaching a louder sermon than any pastor could.

I really love how the New Living Translation puts Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart & I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart & give you a tender, responsive heart.” Notice how it’s GOD who gives us a new heart; it’s something we’re incapable of giving ourselves. He must do it. Our hearts are naturally stubborn and hard; He is the One who gives us a soft & responsive heart.

I’ve repeated this prayer a lot lately: “Lord, keep my heart soft. Keep me responsive. Keep me hopeful.”

I love how God often works the opposite of how we may expect… In the world suffering is a reason to give up hope; but Paul tells believers that HOPE is a BYPRODUCT of our suffering in Romans 5:3-4: “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Has hope ever felt futile or pointless? Like you don’t even want to share what you’re hoping for because you feel ashamed? The next verse in Romans 5 says “And HOPE DOES NOT PUT US TO SHAME, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Psalm 25:3 reiterates this point that “no one who hopes in You will ever be put to shame…” Although the world may mock or misunderstand, you will never but put to shame as long as your hope is in Jesus.

If you have (or are) struggling to hope don’t forget that hope requires POWER from the Holy Spirit, it’s not something that always comes naturally. In Romans 15:13, Paul says “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Everything in this world will make you hopeless & cynical. But IN CHRIST, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have a hope that remains when all else fails. Our hope is in heaven and nothing on this earth will ever satisfy the hope only heaven can fill.

Sometimes hope can feel as natural as breathing,
other times it can feel like a weight you’re forced to carry
that leaves you struggling for air.

Today, whether hope comes easily for you or it feels like it requires all the effort you have, I pray you’re reminded that our hope is not in vain and it is not an empty expectation. Our faith is in the ONE who will forever be faithful, who will fulfill every promise He’s ever made. When you’re tempted to give up and you feel circumstances choking the hope out of your heart, don’t forget that our Hope has a Name. Christians have the hope that one day we will be face-to-face with Jesus, the One our weary hearts are longing for.

“Be joyful in hope,
patient in affliction,
faithful in prayer.”
– Romans 12:12

“while we wait for the blessed hope—
the appearing of the glory of our
great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” – Titus 2:13

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,
for He who promised is faithful.” – Hebrews 10:23

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything & your heart will be wrung & possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one… Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” – C.S. Lewis

eternal perspective

“God wants what’s best for me” — have you heard that phrase before? For a long time I believed that to be true; but recently I asked myself the question: is this phrase rooted in Biblical truth? The phrase “God wants what’s best for me” can be easily misunderstood to imply that God agrees with our definition of what is best and, when we follow Him, He will cause “what’s best” to always happen for us…

It’s so easy to casually adopt words and phrases that sound nice but, when we fail to measure it against God’s Word, we start believing something that isn’t even true and are left discouraged, disillusioned, and disappointed. God cannot contradict His character: He is loving, kind, patient, true, good, faithful, trustworthy, all-knowing, sovereign…the list goes on. But sometimes things happen that cause us to question God’s intention towards us. Sometimes circumstances can cause us to doubt His character and question: “God, do You really want what is best for me? Cause right now it doesn’t feel like it…”

While God’s plan and purpose may not be what we would’ve chosen or envisioned for ourselves, we can be assured that He wants what is ETERNALLY BEST for us. I think that is the important distinction.

The phrase “God wants what’s best for me” can be misleading and also sound incredibly insensitive when walking through loss, grief, or anything that doesn’t fit into our idea of “good” or “best.”

So…what are examples of God’s best that we find in scripture???

One example that comes to mind is Joseph. Joseph was betrayed by his own brothers, sold into slavery, accused falsely, thrown into prison, left feeling abandoned and forgotten… and in Genesis 50:20 he says “as for you (his brothers), you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good…”

Think about that for a minute….

Joseph is able to confidently say: “what you meant for evil, God meant for good.” From the outside looking in we wouldn’t say that Joseph was living his “best life” and his desires and dreams were definitely not coming true…. and yet God was working thru the circumstances to bring about provision and restoration. God was bringing about HIS BEST in Joseph’s life.

The problem we run into is when we start to think that OUR best life is also God’s best for us. Ouch.

God has called us to lay down and lose our lives. As long as we hold onto our own life He will never be able to live HIS LIFE thru us.

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
– Matthew 16:25

It is hard to confess that what we thought we wanted and what we thought was best, good, and right is not the same as God’s will. I’ve cried tears over having to let go of my own desires and expectations. It takes humility to let go of what we had planned so we can grasp what God has for us.

But, like Joseph discovered, God’s plan was something greater than anything he could’ve ever planned or imagined on his own. Because Joseph’s plan became whatever God had for him. His hands were open.

If we don’t surrender our plans to God, then we are at risk of thinking that what we desire as “the BEST” is exactly what God wants for us too. God knew exactly what He was doing in and thru Joseph’s life — but I’m sure Joseph had to surrender his expectations of the way he had imagined his life to go.

Let’s look at the Apostle Paul as another example: by our standards his life (which was filled with suffering, beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, and ridicule) wouldn’t be our definition of “the best.” BUT in the middle of his suffering Paul RECOGNIZED that it was a part of God’s sovereign will and purpose for his life. Paul was called to the sufferings, and that’s why he was able to say, in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18:

“For our light affliction,
which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory.”

He calls the suffering MOMENTARY & LIGHT!! *woah* Read all the sufferings Paul listed in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 and tell me if you’d describe them in that way!? I wouldn’t.

Paul realized that what is temporarily painful may also be the same thing that will be eternally beneficial and best for us. We have a tendency to focus on the here & now, but God is outside of time and has a larger perspective than we ever will.

In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul says “…I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me...one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

When we realize that the GOAL and the PRIZE is the upward call of God we realize that anything this world has to offer us pales in comparison with what God has. Too often our GOAL is not Jesus: it’s something or someone else. Too often we hold tightly to other things and we don’t cherish Jesus as our greatest reward and prize. Are we willing to let go of what we are holding onto so tightly, so we can lay hold of what God has for us??

Paul realized what the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:17: “And the world is passing away, along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (ESV)

If all our dreams and desires came to pass exactly as we hoped, we wouldn’t walk thru the refining that only happens in times of testing and trial.

Many know the popular Bible verse: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” but, when you read the previous verses in Philippians 4:11-12, Paul says “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”

Many think that God’s hand is most evident in times of abundance, but God’s hand is just as present in times of suffering and lack. In Christ we can be content in BOTH seasons because HE is our living water and our daily bread (John 7:37-38, John 6:35) our satisfaction and fulfillment comes from HIM. This world and the things in this world will only ever leave us empty, hungry, thirsty, dry, and needy. When we allow God to grow and teach us thru every circumstance we will also be able to walk in contentment because we know He is working. When you’re pursuing Jesus as your GOAL and PRIZE, He will work thru every valley and every mountain to bring you closer to Him and nothing can separate you from Him! We will be able to say, like Joseph and Paul: “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28

One day, in eternity, we’ll be able to look back and see His hand in it all. ♡

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
Yet in all these things
we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor principalities nor powers,
nor things present
nor things to come,
nor height nor depth,
nor any other created thing,
shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.“
– Romans 8:35-39



Are you willing to let go of your best in exchange for God’s best??

He is able


when fear or worry tempt me to doubt the faithfulness of my God I want these simple words to be the anthem of my heart:

“Jesus; You are able.”

I want those four words to be the song of my soul,
the steady echo of praise resounding in my mind,
whatever the future may, or may not, bring —

I want to be found:
trusting Him
& resting in Him
because He indeed is able.
If He does not,
it is not because He is unable,
but it is simply because
He is working something
far greater than I can imagine.
His thoughts are not mine,
neither are His ways.

Too often, when I am faced with a situation that is scary or unknown, I don’t immediately recall the faithfulness and power of my Savior. I’m prone to look at the storm and take my eyes off of Jesus. I forget that HE IS ABLE. NOTHING is too hard for Him and there is no situation that He cannot redeem or restore. Hope is never lost and nothing is ever too far gone.

There’s a verse in a song called “Hymn of the Ages” by Maverick City that has been on repeat in my head lately:

"blessed assurance
oh, what a grace
I'm prone to wander
But You're prone to chase
This is my story
It's the song that I'll raise
I'll sing of Your goodness
All of my days"

“I’m prone to wander, but You’re prone to chase…” Isn’t that so true?! Time and time again God has proven that He is my Provider, Protector, Comforter, and Helper; so why, when a trial comes, do I question what He is doing and doubt His sovereignty? I question if He is able or if He will…….. and I think that’s one of the hardest things to reconcile on this side of eternity — asking God: “I know You can, so why aren’t You?”

When we’re honest, I believe we’ve all asked a question like that. I want to trust Him, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” But I still ask that sometimes. It is hard to surrender your own will, desires, and expectations — especially when you’re asking for a good thing or for something that you know is aligned with God’s heart. And yet, when we follow Christ, we are called to trust His sovereignty: which looks like praying in faith and letting go of your expectations. We pray in faith: believing He can, but also surrendering our expectations if He doesn’t or if He works in a different way.

Last week, during Bible Study at my church, we were talking about expectations: how, when God doesn’t meet our expectations we should abandon our expectations, not God.

When you’re believing that a situation will turn out one way and it ends differently than you hoped or prayed; or when an answer isn’t coming after months or years and you pray God would move quicker…when you question if He’s even hearing you anymore. In those moments I’m quick to question God and feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and disillusioned. I’m quick to wander, grow impatient, and question His timing. But, looking back at times when I wish a circumstance would’ve ended differently, it has taught me to rely and depend fully on Jesus, not only on what He can do for me.

I’ve heard people making bargains with God, praying things like: “God, if You do ________ I’ll do ______.” Many times people go to God simply for what He can do.

Am I trusting Him for an OUTCOME or am I trusting HIM?

Trials and difficulties can be opportunities to trust God in a greater way. He is the God who fed the multitude — but ever wonder why Jesus didn’t feed hungry multitudes everyday? I think it’s because Jesus didn’t want people following Him for the temporary provision or satisfaction He could give; He wanted people to follow Him because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Not for the temporary bread He could give, but because He is the Bread of Life. If God answered our every prayer the way we wanted Him to answer, the moment we didn’t get our way we would abandon Him; because we would be following Him selfishly. When Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, He called them not for what He could give them, but for who He is.

Sometimes I think He allows us to be disappointed so we’ll take our eyes off an outcome and fix our eyes on Him.

When He calls us to wait, it is not because He is incapable of working in that moment; it’s because He wants us to trust Him more and not rely on our own strength or power to change a situation.

He is able to change any situation – and if He hasn’t yet maybe it’s because what He’s working in the waiting is of more value and of greater (eternal!) importance. Do not get so focused on what He isn’t doing that you lose sight of what He IS doing today.

Don’t be discouraged when He asks you to wait or His answer isn’t what you expect — worship Him because He is able. NOTHING is impossible for Him. Pray: believing and trusting Him. Surrender: knowing that He holds the outcome in His hands and will give you the strength and grace to receive His will, even when it’s not what you expected.

He is able to replace your fear with faith and your anxiety with peace. He is able to renew your mind and heal your heart.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
– Isaiah 55:8-9