Finding Hope and Comfort, When Your'e Hurting or Confused

I desired relationship, not just with Jesus, but with my only son.

I prayed  

I shared  

I waited  

I gave thanks 

I put on the full armor of God; fought the enemy with the Lord's help!

I read God's promises over and over in His Word and claimed them for myself.

I waited again 

I tried to do everything right, and nothing seemed to happen...it confused me and if I’m being really honest it hurt my heart. 
I felt both of them drawing farther away, not closer to me.

What was I to do? What was I supposed to learn? Maybe it's this...

• Maybe welcoming God’s promises requires the same sort of acceptance we give any guest who arrives at our home: preparation, waiting, making room for the promise to have seat at the table, even as it’s still far off in the distance.
• Maybe sometimes God’s promises wait in the distance. Pain waits there too. That’s when He comes alongside. The presence of the living God, eagerly, but quietly drawing near to you in your hurting.
• Maybe I need to live a sincerely Listening Life. to listen until I understand.  He commands, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). "And to those whose minds are steadfastly fixed on Him, He gives the gift of peace."... 

I'm learning that when you are broken or alone or have questions and aches, good. It’s good to be desperate if you’re willing to be desperate enough to cry out to Him and let Him reach into the aching places and reveal you and heal you and speak to you.

When I feel desperate for my son in prayer, peace evades me. In a sense, I feel a deep concern for him. But, I do believe God put this in my heart...

Even Paul wrote "Apart from external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?" (2 Corinthians 11:28-29)

The statement here shows the depth of feeling of this great apostle; and shows what should be the feeling of every believer.

John Gills Exposition of the Bible states:

 "Now by all this which the apostle did and suffered, by all actions and sufferings, care and sympathy, he fully appeared to be a true and faithful minister of Christ, and abundantly more than the false apostles, who could produce none of these things as testimonies in their favour."

But, how can I have that intense concern and find peace?
The Holy Spirit is the Giver of  peace, and He dispenses it as a gift. Galatians 5:22 says one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is peace. Notice that every promise Jesus made to His troubled disciples on the night before His death was rooted in the coming of the Holy Spirit. Christ promised life, full understanding, and peace to those who are His disciples, but it is the Spirit of God who takes the things of Christ and gives them to us. 

"Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful" (John 14:27). 

Jesus shows us His promise of peace. We ought to be able to lay hold of this peace. It is there, it is ours; but we must take hold of it. The peace He gives has to be received and applied in our lives.
He calls us to let the Lord's peace work in us. 

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." Colossians 3:15 

As I  continue to pray for my son(and for a closer relationship) and wait, I'm learning that sometimes young men need time.  

"Growing in grace and wisdom and stature isn’t an immediate download — it happens the way a tree grows up: over many years. There’s a reason why children begin as seeds. It’s okay — it’s okay —- that growth and change take time — it’s supposed to. There are good young men out there who need to be unearthed from low expectations, and made over by relentless grace, who are given confidence to to do hard things by giving them hard things to do. 

Don’t quit now. There’s a whole generation of the hardest boys who can become the greatest men.There’s a whole generation of young men who will rise up if we raise our expectations, who can turn over new leaves because we never stop believing in them, who can do hard things because we never give up on them, no matter how hard it gets." ~ Ann Voskamp

Until then I am called to just be a pointing arrow — by the way I humbly sacrifice and serve: 

"The world needs the mothers and the gentle and the kind and the humble and the generously giving to get down on their knees and love enough to say exactly just that– through their words and hearts and serving, sacrificing hands. 

Focus more on living Truth than pointing out error, more on celebrating the beautiful than decrying all that’s broken — more on being a servant than on being right. That doesn’t mean we ignore concerns— it means our ultimate focus is on the commendable. Be a Light so lovely that he is drawn to the Source and warmth of it.

By this one white heart....Pure Love branded right into the prayers and the prodigals led back home." ~ Ann Voskamp 

In my spirit “I know God is going to bring my son back to Him.”

Now, Satan wants me to ask “And what if He doesn’t?” — what if He doesn’t do what we plea, what we pray, what we believe He can and will do and should do?

Even if He doesn’t – He does still love us.

If He doesn’t — I will still believe. Still believe — in Him. 

So, I continue to :   

>"Let your requests be made known to God, with    thanksgiving and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 4:6-7)  (Ask the Lord to have you feel as He would have you feel ...) 

>"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord."(James 1:5-7)   

>When your heart and mind are troubled . . .Dwell on the hope and the promises found in Jesus Christ - for a harvest worth all of a mother's worn and faithful grace!

With A Little Hope . . .Finding hope in the unexpected places, in the circumstances that seem overwhelming, in the moments you question everything you ever knew. Scriptures of hope:

• "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a humbled (contrite) spirit."(Psalm 34:18)
• "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all."(Psalm 34:19)
•  "Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off."(Prov. 24;14)   
• "...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."(Romans 5:3-5) 
•  "....by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."(Romans 15:13)

http://www.alphanewsdaily.com/FindingHope.html

He may not be answering our prayers yet, but He is working in us. He doesn’t always still our storms. But He can still us, in the storms. May the comforting Holy Spirit of God counsel and comfort us as we make our way through this broken world.

Rest In Me - A Song of Hope & Encouragement

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