Helpless, not Hopeless

The struggles of life can get pretty overwhelming at times. 

Friends battling illnesses and cancer

Loved ones who are out of town dealing with a hospitalized parent

An exhausted new mom, with no spouse (and a baby herself), trying to care for her little one

A dear friend struggling to stay afloat in her marriage, in her finances, in her life

In my heart, I want to run to them.  I want to get on a plane and fly to where they are.  Use any time I have to help care for that newborn.  Give my money and resources to make a grim situation a little brighter.

 

But I can't.

 

I don't have the resources.  I don't have a surplus of  time.  I don't have room in my budget.

 

I have overwhelming matters pressing in on me too. 

 

It all just leaves me feeling HELPLESS.  If I can't physically do SOMETHING, then what kind of friend am I?  If I can't don a sparkly pink "Super Friend" cape and run to the rescue those who are hurting, I am not being a good friend.  HELPLESS.

 

Mary watched her Son get beaten, mocked, and pierced.  She felt his suffering, pain, and anguish.  I bet she wanted to put on her cape and rescue her Son from this grim situation.  She couldn't make it better.  She couldn't change the circumstances. She couldn't protect her own Son. What kind of mother was she?

 

I bet Mary felt HELPLESS, but she wasn't HOPELESS.

 

We have a tendency to put all of our hope in doctors being able to heal, spouses making it right, and finances straightening themselves out.  We can't do that.  We can't put our hope in places that are constantly shifting and changing.  We have to put our hope in the ONE THING that DOES NOT CHANGE. 

 

God.

 

God is still in control, no matter how circumstances turn out.

God is still in control, even when friends are not healed and marriages are broken.

God is still in control, when money is barely there and the food pantry is the only sustenance.   



 

Mary KNEW her Son would endure this pain.  She KNEW he would die a horrific death.

She KNEW he would rise again.

 

Her hope was in God who said he would never leave us or forget us.

 

When I am feeling HELPLESS, I pray.

 

I pray for HOPE.

 

I pray that my sick friend has HOPE in God, that He is with her during in her chemo treatments.

I pray that my friends have HOPE that God will sustain their strength for care for their ailing father.

I pray for that exhausted new mom to have HOPE for God to supply her every need.

I pray for my friend to place her hope in God who will not forget her in her struggles.

 Then Moses summoned Joshua. He said to him with all Israel watching, “Be strong. Take courage. You will enter the land with this people, this land that God promised their ancestors that he’d give them. You will make them the proud possessors of it. God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.”
  Deuteronomy 31:7-8 The Message