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Overnight the temperatures in our area plummeted to depths
we haven’t seen in quite some time.
There is such a chill factor that warnings abound against the dangers of
getting out in the weather unprotected.
Extra precautions are needed. We were warned ahead of time but we’re
still shocked at it. Danny has kept the fireplace chugging and the central heat
is still coming on from time to time.
I don’t pretend to like cold weather or winter, so to say I’d
love to be in South Texas or on the gulf coast somewhere is putting it mildly.
I’d just as soon leave this chill behind and return when spring warms our
lovely area again. We know at least that this icy chill is temporary. We can
remember warm days of the past and count on the weather changing back again
before we know it.
Some folks are experiencing a depth of another kind.
Plummeting problems are making things look hopeless. Some would like to go into
hibernation and wake up with everything better. Others are attempting to find some
sense in it all but the chill they feel won’t go away.
What is it that you are experiencing precious one? Is it the
depths of despair? Were you headed down the right road, doing all the right
things and yet here you are watching the thermometer go lower and lower?
Perhaps you are in the depths of disappointment. Christmas has come and gone
and it didn’t prove to make you happier. The new year’s resolutions only make
you feel like you can’t accomplish a thing. Perhaps you are discouraged. The
phone doesn’t ring and your loved ones don’t call. That child you’re praying
for stays away and you’re not sure if God hears you because you don’t see a
thing working in that one’s life. Plummeting discouragement is a dangerous
temperature – it makes for desperate measures.
Maybe you feel you’ve been left out in the cold to handle
all your problems alone. The depths of hopelessness are trying to slide under
the door and threaten to freeze your emotions into constant worry and fear.
God tells us in His Word that we will have tribulation (misfortunes, trials, pain, distress and
trouble). Yet when we experience it we are shocked. Where did this come from?
Nobody warned me? Isn’t the Christian walk supposed to be sweetness and light?
There is hope! Unlike those who have to seek continual heat
to keep their homes, family and livestock protected in the deep freeze, we have
Jesus to warm our hearts and keep our heads clear at the lowest point of the
situations we may find ourselves in. We
cannot choose when the weather goes south but we can choose how we react to
each and every difficulty that comes our way.
We don’t have to hide or hibernate – we can live in the light of His
glory and grace. We can become a warm and visible image of who Christ is to the
world that is watching. And when we look to Him for our answers and radiate His
truth, others will come to the warmth and ask to be helped by Him as well.
Oh beloved, whatever you are experiencing right now,
whatever the mercury in the thermometer is plunging to, you can trust God! He
who knows all things, knows your situation. And He who loves you is able to
make all grace abound to you. And He who cares for you will surely bring you through
it. Quit looking at the plummeting
situation and start looking to Him. He will never leave you or forsake you and
when this momentary light affliction is relieved and you bask in the warmth of
the Son again, you will know that you are stronger, and more of an overcomer
than you were before. And that’s worth rehearsing the promises of God as you
live in the light of His Word.
John 16:33 I have told you all this so that you may have
peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take
heart, because I have overcome the world.
Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart
take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.
2 Samuel 22:4 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be
praised, And I am saved from my enemies.
Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall
I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?
Psalm 56:3 When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.
Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my
deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold.
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