Dream, Hope, Be Grateful and Pray

It's gets hard doesn't it? Life can often leave us feeling like there's not a lot to be happy or positive about. Sometimes the burdens of food, shelter and employment can mix with rough relationships, family drama and cycles of ordinary challenges making each day a bit tougher than the last. If we're completely honest, some periods of time can feel like and often are an avalanche of personal agony.

I think we've all seen these times in our lives. Each person, in their own way has met the darkness of life and has endured the Devil's work. Yes, we have all met the Devil in one way or another. It could be through financial crisis, family troubles, personal demons or through meeting people consumed with evil. The Devil uses the hardships of life to destroy faith. His goal is to attack your soul and rip into your life, doing all he can to drive you away from faith in God and bring you into his family, his darkness, his hate. He uses the things that upset, get into and hurt us as a means to drive this awful wedge.

The Devil is often subtle, but make no mistake, he is a master trickster. So elaborate is his method, so deceiving is his veil, so often to catch us when we are down or beaten, he preys on the weakness of man and sets things in motion that will cause us to lose faith and others to lose faith in us. The stronger you are in faith, the harder he works to unseat you and drive you down. This is his job, one that he is often successful in.

However, once we know this and understand the workings of hell a little better, we can arm and guard ourselves with the truth. One of the best phrases I've seen on a Church sign in years is this: "When the Devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future!".

This sign was in fact, a sign I needed to see on a very dark day. It reminded me of the 2 greatest hopes and how the future will be. 1, someday the Devil will burn for all eternity in Hell and have zero power and be shown for what a nothing he really is in terms of God's power. 2, Jesus will come back and take away all that we know and replace it with Heaven.

Jesus gave his life for all mankind and anyone who believes in him, trusts in him shall have eternal life with him. The greatest hope comes from this fact. Nothing that happens on Earth can ever compare to what is coming.

The Bible doesn't promise an easy run when you give your life over to God. In fact, it speaks in many places about just how tough it can and will be. The difference is that with faith, you will overcome what comes to drag you down. With faith, you are never alone, not even in the darkest days and nights when your entire life is shambles. Even in those days when your faith is muddy, tested and weak, once you have faith, He never leaves your side. It's much like that "Footprints" thing where only a single set of footprints is seen and that's the time that God carried us. I know this to be true.

This year has been a year of such agony for me that there have been months on end where the only footprints are God's in my life. Times when the money wasn't there to survive, when the wolf was at the door, when relationships were shatter, when faith seemed lost, those dark and ruthless days of the Devil's playground where even my life seemed a waste. Don't kid yourselves, I think many of us have had the days where death would be a welcome relief. It's in those hours, days weeks and months that God has proven his grace and power to carry me through.

How does God do this? He places little pieces of hope in your path. It could be the smile of a child you meet while out somewhere, it can be the people he brings into your life to prop you up at your weakest points, it could be the day your sitting at a stoplight and see a flock of birds go by with soaring wings and the little voice that reminds you that if he will feed and cloth those birds how much more he will take care of his precious human flock.

Sometimes he can send a messenger with what you need in terms of material things. He can take away a problem in an instant and yet you never saw it coming. He finds amazing ways every day to give you enough hope that this too shall pass, just hold on. We can be guilty of blaming God when things go badly, but he's a tough guy, he can take it and he understands and knows it's often just our pain coming out in a confused mass of humanity. He has a plan for everything that happens, and his work is ongoing in all of us. God knows that we fail from time to time, he knows we are weak in humanity and that the world we live in can take away your breath and leave you shattered. It's the very reason he carries us forward and steadies our walk so that when the darkness fades and the light returns he can be shown for his love, compassion and his mercy.

If you hold on to whatever faith you can muster in the dark days, and pray for God to give you your needs, help you to overcome and show you what to do next, he is faithful to be there and grant those prayers. It may not come easily to mind, but know that he hears you and that he is doing a work of good. Be patient and continue to hold on.

Dream big dreams and think of ways to use your talents to help others. Hope in God and hold fast to the knowledge that he will stay with you, walk with you, carry you. Know that God will do what he promised even when it looks like we are alone, he's just working out what needs to be done and we will someday see just what it all was leading to.

Be grateful that you have anything to hold onto as there are many that have less and suffer more. There are people in our community, our country and the rest of the world that have a far harder time than we here. If they have hope, faith and can hold on, shouldn't we be able to as well?

I am grateful that I have food, shelter, a job, friends and family that love me. All of these are gifts from God. While life continues to be quite a struggle, keeping the food, shelter and Job often a challenge, I have them and it's the grace of God that these things have proven to be enough to keep me going, enough to show me that God is still with me and enough to help me hold onto the promise. On my own, I can do nothing, am nothing, but with God, I have the world by it's tail.

We all do :-)