To You, With Love
by pamela spurling
I am entitling this message as I have today
because of the number of letters I have received from sisters who are hurting and feeling
terribly alone in their lives and in their journey with the LORD.
I pray as I begin to write this open private
letter to you that the LORD will enable me to write it as a personal letter of
encouragement and that you will know that my heart goes out to you. Several sisters are
feeling defeated and lost and feel that there is no joy in the journey with the LORD.
Maybe this is you, too, and you haven’t written or talked to anybody about this at
all. I’m not going to say anything like, "take heart, you’re not alone in
this..." because I know that hearing: "you are not alone..." will make
little difference in the way you feel this day or in the way you may have been feeling for
weeks or months, now. Sometimes we will tell a sister "you’re not alone" in
hopes of cheering her up and helping her to step into a new place. Sometimes we say
"you’re not alone" because we have nothing else to offer.
As I sit here at the computer reading your
letters, the tears in my eyes well up and I cannot see the screen... I pray that I can be
of some encouragement. I know that the different times I have felt so alone, and in the
depths of despair, I have often run from the very thing that would have comforted me. I
have turned my head away from the very Voice that would have soothed me and have looked to
myself to solve the problems that only the Lord Jesus could solve. I regret the number of
times that the last place I turned was the place I should have turned to first. My LORD,
my precious LORD was there all the time... Jesus patiently waiting with His gentle arms
outstretched to me and I was not looking. There was nothing I needed to do... no
performance, no posturing, no rehearsed speech. I simply needed to come to Him. He says in
His Word, Come unto Me all ye who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Telling you this sounds great, doesn’t
it---sort of a "pat answer." I know that you already know that the LORD has all
the answers and all the comfort you will ever need but if you are feeling low, even
knowing or hearing this is not likely to be enough for you at this very moment. But...even
still, I pray that you will look up and that you will extend your arm and open your hand
because the LORD’s outstretched hand is present. I pray that in your low estate that
you will grasp the Hand that will lift you up.
If you are straying... straying in your walk,
straying in your thoughts, straying in your marriage, I pray that this day you will stop.
I pray that you will stop and stand still. I pray that you will stop and stand still and
look up. I pray that you will stop and stand still and look up into the face of the
LORD---for the joy of your salvation and the strength of your life is in the LORD. You
have no past sins He will not forgive, you have no faults He will not turn into strengths,
you have no secrets He does not know of, you have no failings that He will not excuse, you
have committed no sin that His blood will not cover.
Hebrews 4.14-16
14 "Seeing then that we have a great high
priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace
to help in time of need."
This is Holy Week... and it is in this week that
we reflect on the miraculous and marvelous gift God gave in the life, death, and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus. All your griefs, all your sorrows, all your sins are
covered because of His great love wherewith He loves you.
You may be feeling like you’re drowning in
a see of confusion... of wrong choices and misguided thinking. I know those of you who are
struggling in your marriage feel like nothing is ever going to change and you are never
going to get out of the cycle of ups and downs probably feel like there is no one who
cares for your soul. You may feel as though your husband doesn’t love you and that
you cannot bear to look at him or to feel his touch. You may weary of the days and dread
the nights. Your heart may be aching for someone to love you and feel that no one does and
no one will. But I know One who loves you. I pray that in that cold, tumultuous sea you
will lift up your eyes---for if you would do this you would see the outstretched Hand and
you will be lifted up. We read in His Word that He is our anchor.
When the waves would surely overwhelm us and the
hope within us is nothing more than a faint breath, we can fully count on and fully rest
our hope in Him, "...in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a
strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Which hope we have as an anchor of the
soul, both sure and stedfast..." ---Hebrews
6.18-19
The enemy is ever at work seeking to steal, kill
and destroy. He would like nothing better than to fuel your flickering flame of confusion
and snuff out any glimmer of hope you have. He seems to never be seeking anything more
than to cause you to doubt---doubt God, doubt His faithfulness to you, doubt His promises
to you... it matters not the method, the goal is simply always the same, and that is His
desire to cause you to doubt God.
Today you may be feeling like no one understands
the struggles you are facing. You may feel like you cannot go on living in your home,
being lonely in your marriage, or angry or disappointed with your children, discouraged in
your church or in your job. You may be feeling like the weight of the pressure on your
shoulders is so overwhelming that you will never get out from under it and that it will
fairly crush you. You may have been so hurt that you feel as though you will never love or
really live again. I pray that this day will be a day of turning for you and that this
week will be as a memorial to your decision to lift up your eyes to the LORD and to take
His Hand. This week might be for you the symbol of being lifted up with Him out of the
miry pit into which you have fallen. No one may understand and no one may be going through
what you are facing right now---but even still, there is One who does know and does
understand. "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." ---Hebrews 12.3
When we consider the tremendous gift and the
depth of the love of God... when we consider that it was for times such as these that He
suffered and it was for sinners such as you and me that He willingly died... we must only
stand in awe and give Him glory, glory, glory.
No matter how alone you feel, no matter how
grieved is your heart, no matter how many fears grip your thoughts, no matter how trapped
you feel, no matter how many times you have failed or fallen--------------nothing,
absolutely nothing is too difficult for the LORD. You can love with passion again. You can
live with joy again. You can walk with confidence again. You can trust by faith again. I
pray that you will once again turn to Him, rising early to drink from the rich well of
God’s Word. I pray that you will grasp the Hand that will lift you up.
"...for He hath said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not
fear what man shall do unto me..."
God bless you and lift up your eyes.
pamela spurling ~ achristianhome.com ~ © 2001
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