Julie and Bob had a good income, a good marriage, and a good life until Julie came up expecting with complications during her last three months of pregnancy. Within a few months she delivered with a normal birth and a beautiful baby boy. But hospital bills, doctor’s visits and the loss of Julie’s income for three months put the young couple at rock bottom. They struggles to pay for diapers, heating costs and even, food. Bob would come home exhausted and Julie felt defeated as she raised her baby as a stay home mother.
Julie prayed.
In the despair of foreclosures, job layoffs, uncertainty of the future, mounting costs and imaginable pain there is a dynamic – a hope that rides through the storm.
First of all, know He cares. Prayer is seeing life through God’s view. To see earth through His window. Jesus feels the pain, sees the hurt and weeps over the mess. “Jesus wept.” Jn 11:35 To know that He knows. He keeps me close. He delights in me daily. Pr 8:30 He is always within reach. Never ignores us.
Know He is with us. We often remind ourselves that His eye is on the sparrow but the scripture actually goes into greater detail. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Matt 10:29. Did you notice? He didn’t say He would watch the sparrow fall but He said the sparrow will not fall to the ground without the Father.
Know we can lean on Him. When we learning to lean we grow stronger. Faith gives up in atrophy. Faith only grows stronger under duration. Becomes greater in practice. Produces greater results when meshed with a trail. As one man stated, “If you don’t have a problem – you won’t need a miracle.”
Know His Word is our strength. One of the greatest strengths on earth is to hear the tender voice of Christ in the day of your greatest struggle. One of the surest ways to hear His voice is to read, ponder, and meditate on His word. The Bible is full of scriptures bringing delight to the hearer. When Elijah was running for his life from the crass Jezebel he hid in the obscurity of a cave, as he pitied his dilemma he cried, “just let me die.” Yet, the Son of God entered the darkness of the cave and whispered his name, “Elijah.” What a comfort, a joy, a celebration of spirit, just to know, He knows your name and He knows where you are.
Know tomorrow is coming. When a Japanese Christian preacher was thrown in jail for his faith it was almost more that he could bear. His dungeon was deep below the earth and no one heard his cries, no sunlight and little food but he kept his faith. After, what seemed eternity, the dungeon door came open, the direct sunlight blinded his dirty face. The noise of men beckoning him to come out seemed to bellow out in his nearly deafened ears. Finally the glad words were heard, he was now free but as he looked around he noticed this was not the home he once knew, not a home, tree or building stood – all but the few men with him , were now gone. The men exclaimed, “Your home here in Hiroshima does no longer exist.” The United States had retaliated against the Japanese for their merciless killings at Pearl Harbor and the city of Hiroshima was destroyed by a nuclear bomb but the old preacher was saved because he had been hid in the deep cavern. His dark cell had become his salvation. Tomorrow is coming.
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