Never Give Up

 

I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home.  I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you.”

~Jeremiah 29:11-14

 

Have you ever watched someone suffer with hopelessness and despair?  Maybe that someone was even you.   Have you ever watched, knowing no matter how much you wanted you couldn’t fix it?  You couldn’t do anything but walk through or walk with that person through their circumstances? 

Sometimes circumstances are beyond our control and sometimes we fall into the belief, true or not, that what we wanted, hope for, dreamed of, will never come true.  

Most recently I have seen these feeling surface through my son.   I see him struggle with things that are beyond his control through teary eyes and a broken heart.  He has been a spectator to his father and my divorce, and he so desperately wants the love and attention of his dad.  He wants to know it’s not his fault we are divorcing and that he is not the reason his dad moved out.   But unanswered texts and broken promises often leave him wondering just that.   It leaves him feeling hopeless, unloved, and depressed. 

Maybe you find yourself in a situation that leaves you feeling the same way.  There is good new though…

Regardless of your feelings or circumstances, God has a plan for your life.  He promises us that He will never abandon us.  He has a plan that gives us the future we hoped for.

Guaranteed we will face hardships and trials along the way.  Some of those will seem so big that it feels like the whole world is shattering around you.  Some will feel so heartbreaking we don’t see any way out of them.  I am sure that right now that is how my son is feeling, and maybe you are too.

What we must remember is that God has a plan for us.  He has a plan for you.  And, yes, that even includes the worst parts of our lives.  Nothing surprises God.  He knew everything that was going to happen in your life.  None of it is a surprise to Him.  The amazing part is that if we allow Him into our circumstances, He will use them for good.  He can use the pain and hardship we face to change the trajectory of our heart.

Never forget you were chosen.  God has called you out and chosen you for a specific mission and purpose.  One that only YOU can fulfill.

The bible says,

“He who created a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.”

~Philippians 1:6

God didn’t want us to walk down the path He chose for us, just to stop and give up when it gets hard.  He sees your pain and He is not done with you.  And maybe, just maybe this pain has everything to do with His preparing you for the good work he has placed inside you.  As long as you have breath left in you, His plan is still alive and unfolding in your life. 

The catch to this all is we can’t give up.  Even when it gets hard.  Even when it hurts.  And yes, even when we begin to loose hope.  We need to remember the most important part….

WE CAN’T DO IT ALONE!!!!  We need Him to keep going.  We don’t have to be strong because He promises His strength in our weakness.  We need to keep trusting Him and inviting Him into our mess.  Our pain.  Our desperation.  He wants to sit with us in our mess, pain, despair, and hopelessness.   He even wants to sit with us in our anger.  

God made each of us with a unique purpose.  He never wastes a hurt.   And He has a plan for your life.  He isn’t even close to done with you!  I guarantee you have something the world needs.  Someone out there will be ministered to because of the pain you’re going through.

SO….

DON’T GIVE UP!!!!