Well, welcome again to another edition of our podcast, Struggling Well. If you were with us last week, you know that we are personally going through some really deep waters in our family and what I shared with you last week was that one verse from the 92nd Psalm which says in the morning I will remember your loving kindness and in the evening your faithfulness and that's really probably a an indicator of where we're finding our hope these days Suzi is just in scripture in what so many people have sent us verses in different places and We have found ourselves going back and seeing places in scripture that have come alive in different ways because it is his living word and depending on what you're going through, it doesn't change what he says, but it impacts you in different ways.
For those of you that listen last week, you knew that I wasn't there because there was nobody interrupting. last week it was really hard to breathe. It was hard to show up. y'all that have been through difficulty. I got real southern there and I'm not from the south. I'm from the north, so forgive me, but I've lived in the south a long time. But when you're in a difficult place and the breath gets knocked out of you physically, spiritually, emotionally, it's really hard to show up. as a female, my emotions have been all over the place and I have experienced a level of hurt and grief that I thought I had experienced before. We have both Jimmy and I have lost both our parents. we have had dear friends that have passed away. We have walked through deep waters with families that are going through all different kinds of struggles. But I don't think personally I had ever felt such an overpowering sense of sadness and hopelessness. it's still hard. It's going to be hard for a long time now. but as Jimmy said, we have we've taken great strength from the body of Christ, but also mostly from the word of God. And honestly, guys, if I could, I would I don't know who came up with this struggling well thing and why we named this podcast this. I would like to name it and everything ends up happily ever after. But that's not life. And that's not life in following Christ. He tells his disciples and he speaks to us and says when you have trouble. He doesn't say if. He says when. And so if it's a matter of when, then how am I to be prepared for that? And I think more than anything that has hit me in these last few weeks is that we need to prepare our hearts for life, not just hard life, but for life by being just living in the word. And that sounds so like how can that possibly be? And I'm not talking about, you know, you go and join a monastery somewhere. I mean, if that's what God is calling you to, go for it. But it's a matter of soaking up God's word. And so it fills up that well of your heart so that when difficulty comes, you are drawing from an empty well, but you are drawing from a well that has been that's filled with living water. Not platitudes, not nice little statements, but the real word of God and I can tell you honestly that in the last few weeks, if we did not have the word of God, if we didn't have the body of Christ sharing it with us, if we didn't have it as our anchor, I think I would just drift away.
Yeah. And I would echo those things. And it's it we've probably been taken, Suzi, to different even places in God's word that have meant something to us. And for me, one of the places in the Psalms is a big book, 150 different Psalms. But talked right in the middle in Psalms 61, 62, and 63 are places that I have found real hope. In Psalm 61, the psalmist says, "Hear my cry, oh God. Listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth, I will call to you when my heart is faint." And that's been a description, I think, of where I'm at right now. And then he says this right after that, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I,
for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy."
And that's a reminder that again, the visual for me in that is I lift up my eyes to a place higher than I.
and not necessarily looking to the mountains or anything like that, but it is to God who is my refuge and who is my strength. And that's one of the places that I have found great comfort. Not it's not taking a verse and applying it like a band-aid to a problem. It's understanding the reality that there is a bigger story than just my life. And that at the center of all of it, my life and this bigger story is God who's telling his story. And when you're reading God's word in light of the bigger story, or as dear friends of ours would call it the larger story, then each place in scripture in its context gives you a sense of the character of God that people back in Old Testament, New Testament, and a current testament that we're living. it's essential. And for me, I've been in Isaiah and there's verse in Isaiah 33:3 where it says, "Oh Lord, be gracious to us as we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in time of trouble." And then lower down in verse six, it says, "And he will be the stability of your times." And I look at that and I've got to look at who he says he will be. It says that he will be my arm, that my strength, that he will be my salvation, not just my spiritual salvation of coming to know Christ, but he will be the one that will rescue and save me. And then in the ESV verse 6336 says, "He'll be my stability." Well, I'd never seen that phrasing like that. It's probably different in different translations, but when you're in a difficult time, trying to be trying to be stable or stabilize yourself is sometimes a joke. But it's God who says, "I will be your stability, me, God.
Yeah. And I as you were saying that, Dave, I thought about we just recently celebrated the 22nd anniversary of 9/11. And I remember in those days, one of the questions that people, a lot of people were asking was where was God? And what I have found to be so true, whether it's in a huge catastrophe like that or whether it's in individual struggles in our lives, is the realization that we need to be constantly aware of his presence. He promises us all in 100% guaranteed he will never leave us. He'll never forsake us. He'll be with us. So from Old Testament times when Joshua takes over from Moses and leading the children of Israel, God says to him, "Fear not, for I will be with you." When Moses, fast, go backwards a few years when he's going to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, he says, "Who shall I say sent me?" And you said, God says, "I'm with you. I go with you." And you tell them that I'm there. And so, one of the things that we would say that is the place that the enemy loves to attack us is to doubt the presence of God and doubt his being with us.
And again, leaning into his word, what I believe with all my heart is he will never leave us. He will never forsake us. Therefore, the fear of being alone is a fear that I need to fight against because of what God says in his word.
And I think too that you're you might be wondering, okay, well, how do you get that? How do you how do you know that God is present? How do you feel that? And I'm a feeler and I would love to feel I would love to see the face of Jesus. And over the last few weeks, I have I begged him to show his face to me. And I've wondered sometimes why I don't feel more warm fuzzies. And I think I believe it's because I am to be my faith is based on his true word not on my feelings which change from moment to moment and I read it in his word. I read about his character and who he says he is and I either believe it or I don't believe it. And so believing it is an act of my will. U it's like Adam and Eve in the garden. God told them what to do and what not to do. Did they believe him or not believe him? And that's where the enemy came slinking in to cast that doubt of well that's not true or did God really say? And it's a discipline to sit in the word and go, I believe it and I will live it as truth.
So, we hope today is a day no matter what you're going through, if you're going through struggles that are deep or you're going through days that are pleasant, that you would lean into his word and lean into the promises that are there. Have a great day.