Tonight I’m sharing some last thoughts related to the video podcast I posted yesterday on suicide, personal missions and faith. You can watch it here. I know, I know. When it comes to the Come Follow Me study guide we’re meant to be moving on to Romans. But the end of Acts has so much good stuff! And this is one of my favorite topics: Faith in hard times.
Basically, I have a few one-liners that bring me some comfort, hope and faith when I face hard times. Thinking these with hope can help my faith stay strong anyway.
We all have times that we aren’t super happy or grateful about our situation, our trials, our body, our family, our home, our callings, our progress or lack thereof…I could go on, but I think we all get it. While God wants to bless us, He also wants to see us become our best selves which means giving us space to fall, fail and with faith, rise up stronger.
Or to have a more humble or compassionate attitude.
It doesn’t mean we’ll have all the answers, but we’ll have enough for that next breath and baby step. That’s why it still takes faith to get through hard things.
I hope these thoughts can help you hold on when times are hard,and become even more beautiful and rich with experience for making it through the hard times!
Try on a few of these thoughts and see how you feel. I hope and pray you can feel Christ close!
I’d love to hear your hopeful thoughts too! What helps you?
Here’s a little video to serve as an introduction to Feel Christ Close, the new name for my site with a tighter focus on sharing hope in Christ! ☀️It’s OK if we’re not always happy, confident or at peace. Christ is there for us in the storms too. ⛅️He will come to us, mourn with us, and calm the waves…eventually, as we trust in him and lean on his love. Learning how you #feelhimclose is essential to make it through this life’s journey with real hope. 💡I’ve felt his power again and again on my good days so I can remember those moments on my hardest days. When I feel Christ close, I can get through anything.
I’m so grateful for a God that doesn’t need perfection now. ❤️Who loves me where I’m at and teaches me to do the same for myself and others. 🤟We can do all things through Christ when we are close to him and feel his restorative power in us. So turn to him, cleave unto him and find ways to invite him into your life more. That’s the only way to feel lasting hope and peace. 🥲 I’m excited for this more focused journey of coming unto Christ. I hope we can learn from each other and #comeuntohim as we feel Christ close a little bit more each day.
Somehow this means even more to me than the blossoms that will come. If you feel like you are in an ugly, middle-phase of growth, don’t lose heart. Your efforts are. breathtakingly. beautiful.
This is what my eyes “happened” to focus on (through all the clutter) as I turned my head away in overwhelming frustration.
A simple scripture on bold blue.
Between the light saber and fish frame that *still* needs a picture…an answer to my aching, breaking heart’s quiet yearning:
“Be strong and of a good courage; neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whither so ever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:9)
THIS is what I want to be remembering, living and sharing.
THIS TRUTH is what comforts me when nothing else can.
No matter my highs or lows, he’s with me wherever I go.
Nothing can change that.
And knowing that changes everything.
Remember, God loves you!
P.S. Can you see the scripture in this mess? LOL The Spirit CAN minister to us and direct us to what we need most. I hope you can find the hope that YOU need today! <3
Sunrises are proof that beauty and inspiration can come from the dark. Even though there’s been good times too, I’ve been in a bit of a funk this fall. I’ve doubted my purpose and my place in my home, life and universe. Things that were recently bright and clear felt muted…or almost silent.
What did I do? I just “kept swimming” the best I could at a different speed. For the most part, I allowed my self to cut the extras and keep the essentials – religion, relationships, real food (as much as I felt I could) and rest.
And you know what? Between the frustration and emotional aching, eventually, I felt some warmth. Then enough warmth to feel a little joy. Then a little more motivation. And some determination which led to doing some adulting things, which I allowed myself to be proud of – yes, we can and should pat ourselves on the back!
Tough moments still came, but I was handling them without denial or despair.
Then this morning, the light rose. I mean that I got out of bed with a smile on my face and hope burning in my heart. And after happily and deliberately doing some of my kids’ chores (What?! 🙂 I know, right?!) I witnessed half of my house get flooded with this stunning, fiery lavender warmth of sunlight. And it felt like the universe was welcoming me back to life.
I keep feeling like the good vibes are here to stay and then shrinking and hiding from that thought because I know now they won’t always. They can’t always. Which makes me not want to enjoy them now either. In fact, in recent years, I’ve allowed myself to feel like a failure because I had encouraged healing that isn’t necessarily possible for everyone right now. My mental health was flourishing but I knew the case wasn’t true for many of my close friends and family, no matter how hard I tried to help them. So I didn’t want to allow myself to feel those joys either. How could I if I couldn’t share them with the people I loved?
Today what I understand (again – it’s something I must remind myself of often) is that focusing on what I can’t do brings discouragement and darkness, the opposite of God’s light. Doing what I can do brings His light into this world. It’s not my job to heal everyone or even make them happy or hopeful. My life’s mission is just to share hope. That’s it. I’ve accepted that sharing hope is accomplished whether or not people are in a place or season to receive it. Just as the sun shines whether or not people wake up to see it or are in the side of the world where they can, it shines anyway.
We are all on our own journeys with the Master. Isn’t that great? It means that if our hope or light isn’t for someone, it’s ok because HE still walks with them. And though we may love others so deeply it hurts, if we can’t reach them it will be ok in the end. For me, that thought makes things OK right now too. God’s life-giving light shines on all so, eventually, their sunrise will come too.
But I can’t stop shining because I’m waiting for that to happen. None of us can if we want to feel better and make this world brighter. Rise anyway. Shine whatever light you have anyway. If your heart feels dark, move at whatever speed you can until you can warm up that soul-light again. That’s faith! Just keep believing it will turn back on and doing the essentials (not the Pinterest projects or other pretend “needs,” ok?) because when it does return your joy WILL be so much greater.
Your spirit’s sunrise will be worth the past season of darkness because its colors will be all the richer for the challenges you faced. The complexity of trials, humility and obedience brings a unique beauty we could never have designed or anticipated, but eventually, with God’s vision and strength, we can see Him in us, glowing with a love and light that’s eternal. We will be found shining with the light of Christ’s hope.
Sunrises DO come after darkness. Believe you have a beautiful one just behind that mountain.
So many beautiful blessings from God! Love the colors Mother Earth is showing. Here are some highlights from our nature hike today…
If you are feeling the heaviness of life, take a moment outdoors for you and God. You can find evidence of His love for you all around.
Also, I made an Instagram reel with some of these images and peaceful music. It’s my first one, and it was so special to co-create something so calming with God. If you are on Insta, come find me @LiftLikeChrist so we can connect there! 🙂 Here it is below too, in case you aren’t a social media person. 😉
Isn’t it incredible that even if we don’t have what we long for, heaven does all it can to bless us with POWER according to our pure desires? ♥️
I love the truth that the powers of heaven can be close around me according to my faith, and not because I’m perfect or more special than anyone else – we all can have that blessing because God loves us! ☺️ Maybe I can’t receive a physical hug from my Dad but I’ve felt angelic impressions that he was near. We don’t always have the peace or order I long for in my home, but there are miracle moments when we have more than I would have expected.
When it comes to the Come Follow Me study guide we’re meant to be moving on to Romans.
But the end of Acts has so much good stuff! 
And this is one of my favorite topics: Faith in hard times.
While God wants to bless us, He also wants to see us become our best selves which means giving us space to fall, fail and with faith, rise up stronger.
and become even more beautiful and rich with experience for making it through the hard times!
I hope and pray you can feel Christ close! 
