Still having trouble with hope? Maybe you are placing hope in the wrong things. Let the Holy Spirit guide you.

Scripture

Romans 8:24-27

For in this hope we are saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with Gods will.

What is this scripture saying

What this scripture says to me is this: Do not pray to the Lord for what you already have. You would be surprised at what you already have before you only you just cannot or refuse to see it. I believe that you also need to be careful of what you pray to the for. Are you truly praying for your heart's desires? It is very easy to lie to yourself. Desires need to come from your heart, notfrom envy, greed, lust or any other misplaced notion of desire.If you truly search your heart for your heart's desires, I believe the Lord through the Holy Spirit will show you what you need to truly have happiness and contentment in your life. After all, isn't that what we all truly desire is to be happy and content?

Once you truly know your heart's desires and pray for that which you do not already have, the Lord hears you and will work on your behalf to bring these things about. You have to remember patience though. The Lord does have a plan. The Lord doesn't just hand everything to you. I believe that through the Holy Spirit, the Lord will guide you to what you need to do to achieve that which you need. I also believe that through this way, the Lord will guide people into your life to help teach you what you need to learn to get where you need to be as well. So, do not discount anyone who enters your life, but welcome them instead with love and joy in your heart. That is why we nee to have patience and always listen to the truths the Holy Spirit places in our hearts and souls. This always leads me back to another important scripture in my life:

Scripture

2Thessalonians 3:5

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

I have turned this scripture into a personal prayer, "Dear Lord, please direct my heart into your love and grant me your son Christ's perseverance." I use this prayer when I am starting to get discouraged. In this imperfect world that can easily happen. When I use this prayer, I find a peace come over me as I am once again reminded that the Lord is working on my behalf. I am also reminded that some things do take more time so I can have a true appreciation of those gifts the Lord is giving me. I always need to remember to give thanks where it truly needs to go, to God.

My story

I have had many struggles in my life. But none like the struggles placed in front of me in the last 2 years. In the last 2 years I was made to feel beat down and broken apart. I was even pushed to a point where I almost lost all my faith and hope. I am just so happy that the Lord did not lose faith and hope in me. When I look back with my heart and truly see the circumstances that led me to that point, I realized that my heart wasn't in the right place. I was married, had a wonderful family and had a great job that was finally leading me to financial security. I thought I was being a good Christian, but it wasn't really the truth. I was playing the part of a good christian I went to church on Sundays because that is what a good Cristian does. I helped with church related functions because that is what a good Christian does. I said nice, kind things to people even when I didn't really mean it because that is what a good christian does. Boy was I wrong. Never once in that time did I truly look into my heart with what I was doing. Never once in that time was I listening to what the Lord was trying to tell me through the Holy Spirit. I took credit for my successes. I was proud of what I had accomplished. I fell into the trap made of pride and the lies I kept telling myself. I forgot that everything I had was not because of me. They were gifts given to me by the Lord God Almighty and I failed to truly appreciate them. When you give a child that they fail to appreciate, what do you do? You take it away, right? that way they can learn to truly appreciate all the things they do have in their lives. I now see what happened. The Lord, my Father through circumstances, took away from me, His child the gifts I was failing to appreciate. What right do I have to be angry at a lesson in true humility to the Lord?

How things are now

With the lessons, I learned over that period of time, I now feel a happiness like I haven't felt in a long time. As the Lord picks up the broken pieces of me and builds me back up, I am finding my way back to a true contentment. I see the Lord slowly leading me to my real heart's desires and He is doing it in such a manner that I will always remember to have a true appreciation for those gifts. The ministry work I do all around me, is not done because that is what a good Christian does, it is done because that is what the good Lord calls me to do and I do it with joy in my heart. I am happy to share my blessings with those around me. The kindness I show to others isn't done because that is what I am "supposed to do." It is done because we are all children of God and no matter how misguided they are, they still deserve through you, God's love as well. I am reminded of a saying, " You don't have to like your family, but you will always love your family." The people around you deserve the same. We are all family through our Father, the Lord. I still do struggle with patience. That is one of my hardest lessons to learn and accept. When I do recognize impatience within myself, I just say the prayer I told you about earlier and I feel patience wash over me again and I remember that every little success the Lord grants me brings me closer to my heart's desires. That brings me hope.

I truly in my heart hope that this story touches your heart and helps you find your way back to the path you need to be walking. God loves you and so do I, just please don't be afraid to open your heart to this love and truly feel it also. God Bless You!

Have you lost all hope in your life? Do not despair. There is a way out.

Scripture

Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

What is this scripture saying

What this scripture says to me is this: We must always strive to maintain our faith in the Lord, through the good and the bad times. We have been given a wonderful gift by our Lord Jesus Christ, that is no matter what, we stand in the grace of God. There is no such thing as a perfect life, nor would I want a perfect life. We all suffer trials and tribulations. That is how we grow inside, "Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character." If our lives were perfect, we could never grow. Do not think that your neighbor doesn't suffer. We don't always know others trials and tribulations.

I know from personal experience that when we reach rock bottom, it is hard to maintain faith. If you can just cling to a little seed of faith, it can and will grow inside of you. God has given us another great gift in the Holy Spirit, which tries constantly to fill us with God's love if we will let it. In times of need, the Holy Spirit will also guide us. If you truly search deep in your heart you will find and hear the Holy spirit guiding you in your prayers and in your actions. If you learn to listen, you find yourself guided away from the bad things and back toward the good things in life. When that happens, your faith starts to grow again.

As your faith grows, you find it easier to give the problems you can't control or take care of, up to God and not take them back. God turns all things Good. You just have to let Him. That is how you will persevere through all things and through that, gain back your hope. With hope in our lives, we can continue toward our dreams and our hearts desires.

My story

For those of you who read my first post, you know that I went through an extremely difficult time in the span of 2 years. I felt forced to get a divorce, lost the best job I ever had, started and may have lost a relationship with someone who seems to be a perfect match for me, struggling to keep my house, struggling to keep my car running, struggling to get a business going and the list goes on. I had reached rock bottom. I almost totally lost my faith. But I didn't. I still had that little seed inside me. That is all the Holy Spirit needed.

I am so happy now for the day that the Holy Spirit gave me no choice but to listen. It was a Sunday and I was really down on myself. I had decided I did not want to deal with people and decided I wasn't going to church that time. My children wanted to go and looked like they were going to be upset if we didn't go. I heard a little voice inside of me that said, "Why should I let my problems and bad feelings deny them their friends and God?" So, I put on my game face and we went. When the service was done, I was going to do my typical thing, go hide by my car for a while so my children could spend some time with their friends. That was just not allowed to happen this time. There is a lady who always sits behind me in church. This time, the Holy Spirit screamed at me, "TURN AROUND AND ASK HER FOR A MOMENT OF HER TIME!" It was so loud, I heard nothing but those words. There was no fighting it this time, so I did what I was told. Everything poured out of me. I told her everything I had been through and was feeling with tears running down my face. She just sat there and intently listened to me pour my heart out. When I was done she gave me a hug and I could just feel the love inside of her. She then gave me some kind words and the guidance I needed to help get my heart back in the right place.

How things are now

I can't say that things are 100%. They are definitely better than they were before by a long shot. I still have a long ways to go before my struggles I told you about are over. I can say that everyday, my faith and my hope grows stronger. I can now see the little successes that even though small, point to a brighter future for me and my children. Every spoonful of hope I receive builds up and before I know it, they will become a shovelful of hope each time. Eventually, it will become a mountain of hope inside of me through God's love and grace.

Always remember, no matter how small your faith gets, God's faith in you never wavers.

When life puts you at your wits end, DO NOT worry. There is help to be had.

For my first post on spiritual health, I want to share with you a story from my personal life. I hope you find it compelling and can see that whatever bad things get thrown at you, there is help to be had, you just have to ask for it.

The Divorce

This story starts about two years ago. I thought my life was good and I was moving forward to start having all the good things in life that I always hoped and dreamed of having. I was married at that time, we had three wonderful children, a nice house, a couple of cars, a great job,  bills just about all caught up and we were on our way to having the "extras". Two years ago on mothers day, I woke up and was getting ready to go to work. Just before I was ready to go, my wife woke up and said we needed to have a talk. I could tell by the tone in her voice and the fact that she would not look me in the eye, that something was seriously wrong. I sat down and waited for her to talk. She just all the sudden said, "I love you, but I am not in love with you anymore." To this day, not real sure what that means. Then she got up, dressed and left. I was in shock. I grabbed the children, took them to daycare and went to work. I tried the whole time to hold it together. I couldn't do it, I was devastated. Right when I got to work, I had to leave again, I just could not hold it in. I did manage to get it back together before I picked up the kids, I did not need them to see their dad as weak. I then spent the better part of a month trying to get my wife to work with me on trying to save the marriage, divorce to me was not an option. I made a promise to her, to myself, to the people at our wedding but most importantly to God that this marriage was until death do us part. She was having none of it, she wouldn't even try. So, to help protect the children, I gave her the divorce she wanted. I felt forced to break my promise.

Loss of Dream Job

After a little while, things seemed to get better. I still had my good job, the house and I had the children most of the time. The nice thing was that my relationship with my children grew even better than it was before. Six months after my divorce, I even got a promotion a work. Things were definitely working out for the better, or so I thought. Less than a year after my divorce, with no warning at all, the company I worked for decided to close up the store. Over 80 people including myself, were all let go in the same night. I was crushed. I finally got to where I wanted to be, I had my dream job and it was snatched away from me. No, I wasn't crushed, it destroyed me inside.

Complete Hatred

I was angry. No, I was furious. I felt hatred at myself. I felt hatred at the greedy company. I felt hatred at those who had healthy and happy marriages. I felt hatred at the people who had things that I have always wanted and dreamed about, but now could not have. Most of all, I hated God! Here I was trying to make a good life for myself and my children. I didn't have greedy dreams, I just wanted my family to be comfortable with maybe a few nice "extras". I was going to church and trying to give my children a good christian upbringing. So why was I being punished? Tell me Lord, what did I do that was so horrible that you felt the need to punish me so severely not once, but twice? Why am I being singled out for your wrath? I tried my hardest to keep those thoughts and feelings bottled up inside when my children were around. I didn't want to be an influence on them with my bad thoughts. But when they weren't around, I ranted and I raved, asking God why. Then it would change to cursing because I felt I wasn't getting an answer. I started to not really care anymore. What was the point? I had no whole family, the only jobs out there would not take care of my family and I felt I had no friends. So, I just hid. I stayed at home as much as possible and just went through the motions of taking care of my children. None of this was their fault at all.


Is any of this hitting home with anyone yet?

Road to Recovery

A couple of months after all this happened, I got a visit from my pastor. We sat down and talked for a bit. He did manage to open up my eyes a little bit. He told me that the Lord does not perpetrate evil, but can take all things and turn them to good. He pointed out that God did not choose for there to be a divorce, that was a choice made by my ex. God did not choose for the company to shut down the store, in fact I always refused to see that at least 80 other people were affected by that too, until he pointed it out. The really good thing, that he was able to point out to me was this: Because of all the extra time I now had to spend with the children by myself, my relationship that I had with them has exceeded what my expectations and dreams ever were. I really liked that. I had then decided to go back to church. My children have been hounding me to go back anyway. Maybe I could give God another shot.

Just Going Through the Motions

I started getting out a little more. I still wasn't well. I had become very good at putting on a game face and telling people that things were great. Little did they know I was dying inside. I had started up an internet health business hoping it would take off and allow me to continue staying at home with my children. It just did not seem to be going anywhere and my unemployment was running out. I was getting frustrated. I met a girl who I seemed to have a lot in common with me, ideas, hopes and dreams and personality-wise. She made me feel happy and safe when she was around me and she talked to me. That stalled, we let it get too deep too fast. It probably didn't help matters that I finally had a meltdown with everything that has happened to this point. I felt horrible subjecting her it. I am actually surprised she is talking to me at all, anymore. This frustrated me even more. Then one Sunday at church, I just felt this overwhelming need to talk to a lady who always sat behind me. I broke down crying, while I was telling her everything. She gave me a web address to a christian website that had bible studies and she told me to listen to her favorite pastor. He helped me a lot.

Finding My Redemption

Now, I was starting to feel a little bit better about things. Unfortunately, I was still on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Things would seem to start to go good, then when they weren't what I expected them to be, I would lose it. The good thing is that I was getting out and socializing more and talking to people about what I was going through inside myself. I was amazed at the number of people who even though they could not relate to what I went through, were willing to share their stories with me. I learned a lot from this.

You see, I learned that all God really wants is our unconditional love. As you would do things to honor your wife, well that is how you should be doing everything, but to honor God. You know how you feel after spending the whole day away from your wife and family, you can't wait to get home to be with them? That is how the Lord wants you feel about Him every second of your day. Faith is an important factor, but I feel that when things get really tough, God knows that faith will begin to falter. I believe that it isn't about how much faith you have, but more so who you keep your faith in. Always remember, no matter how low your faith gets in the Lord, His faith in you never falters. This is an imperfect world and Jesus did say that we will have trials and tribulations. It is what makes us stronger people. Being a true Christian doesn't mean our lives magically become perfect. But having perfect love and faith in the Lord makes those trails and tribulations easier to bear. The Lord does tell us what we need to do, we just need to learn how to listen better.

Things for me are getting better now. I am starting to get business now. My relationship with my children is getting even better yet now that I am trying to teach them now instead of just yelling and saying, "because I said so." The friends that I never thought I had, I have a lot of friends, I just refused to see it before. As far as that relationship goes, well who knows. I do know that the Lord does have someone in mind for me and that girl will be walking this journey with me when I least expect it to happen. Whether it is the girl I really care about now or someone else, only the Lord knows.

My Personal Prayer

I am not saying that I am perfect. I know I have a long road ahead of me. But when thing start to get tough, there is a scripture that always comes to my mind. It is 2Thessalonians 3:5- May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. Which means to me, that you can ask the Lord to fill your heart with love and grant you with the patience you need. I have turned this scripture into a prayer that does wonders for me. "Dear Lord, please direct my heart into your love and grant me your son Christ's perseverance." If you truly believe and pray this, you will find peace just wash over you. God Bless!