In my childcare provider roles over the last few months (Overnight Camp Staff, Children’s Ministry Director, Tutor, Nanny) I have heard a lot of the same things from parents. I have been asked over and over again, “Is this the right choice?” Do we send our kids to overnight camp, do we bring a tutor into our home, do we send our kids to school, do we do playdates, ballet, hockey, go back to church, homeschool, what is the right choice?
There are a lot of questions, worries and unknowns. Far more than there are answers and directions. We despair because we do not know what to do, what is the best decision for me, for my family. God does not want us living in this despair though. He wishes to rescue us from it. He is the everlasting hope that rises with each new dawn.
2 Corinthians 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
We often say unprecedented times, or there’s never been a time as difficult or as challenging and without hope as this. That isn’t true, all throughout history and especially in the Bible, we see story after story of people who don’t know what to do, who are hopeless and do not know what decisions to make.
Naomi, Esther, Moses, Paul, The Disciples, Mary, Joseph, Job, David; each person had terrible things happen to them and had incredibly bleak moments, moments of unprecedence where they had to make decisions. Where they were doing what they hoped was best for them and their families.
Proverbs 23:18
There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.
Now, none of the afore mentioned did it alone, they always had God, as do you. You are not alone in this journey, God is with you in the lows and the highs. Lately it feels like a lot of lows, I’m sure that’s how Job felt as he sat alone, all his family gone and hearing nothing from the Lord. His faith in God’s goodness and hope in God kept him strong and able to turn to God in the worst of his circumstances.
2 Peter 1:2
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
I want to encourage you in this time of hardship and rejoice in the strengthening of your faith. Pray for your families, pray for you pains, pray for the hurts of the entire world. Let God hear your anguish, your fear of the unknowns and of making the wrong decisions. Give them to him, let him share in your burdens and guide you back to hope.
We will get through this low and into another high, but more lows will come. We are not promised a pain free life, but we are promised a God who is walking before and with us. God is ready and excited to give you the hope you seek.
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
I will be praying for you and your families, praying for the hope and joy of God to invade your homes and guide you out of this low and into everlasting hope.
Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
