Are you facing a mountain?
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in me ye may have peace, in the world ye shall have tribulation, but take courage — I have overcome the world.”
Today, as I listened to this song, I was moved to think how many friends, neighbors, and family members are facing what seems to be mountains of impossibilities.
Mountains We Face
“In this world, we will have tribulation!” Jesus said, “In me, you may have peace!” The two things seem opposites to me at face value. Peace? Tribulation?
“Take courage-I have overcome the world!” How can this be possible?
Sometimes it takes a mountain. I need you more than I ever have before!
Sometimes it takes a desert to get a hold of me.
Jeremiah 29:12-14 New King James Version (NKJV)
12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Matthew 19:26 New King James Version (NKJV)
26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Brokenness
As I write this, I received word of a family facing one of those mountains. In my prayer for them, I remember that sometimes what happens to us God uses to draw others to Himself. This might be the hardest of my trials! How I respond might affect someone else’s ability to see God as loving, just, and all-knowing. When I am broken, it’s really hard to see that mountain as a gift. I forget that my life connects with others who may not know my Savior. In my pain, I cannot see that others might be watching how I handle this situation.
Our only hope is in the knowledge that God holds every breath. He will sustain us when we feel we can’t breathe another breath from our pain.
Psalm 61:1-3
Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
2 from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
3 for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.
Turn to the One who is the God of the Mountains
My prayer is you will be strengthened in your inner man by these words. God is there, here, and everywhere ready to help you in your hour of need.
