All is not lost

Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
I have really been struggling recently; in a lot of ways, in a few very personal ways. Satan takes these struggles and just pushes the sword of conviction deeper every opportunity he has. Sometimes so much goes wrong and then the personal struggles grow even more, I begin to just feel down, tired, and many times even depressed. I am no different from you; this ole’ world beats me down just like it does you. That is where Satan has his victories, when the problems of a temporal world make an eternal child of God feel defeated. We can’t see the gift beneath all the tape and wrapping paper we are struggling with.

God did not forget his promise with Israel in the passage above. He had plans for them that they could not understand because of all the trouble that was facing them. They felt defeated. Do not let the trials of life defeat you as them; the less time you spend with God the more defeated you will feel. You do not have the power in your pride to do life on your own; to do life without God and the power of prayer and his Word. David was fleeing for his life, hiding out in caves when he wrote the Psalm 63:1 A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.

Everything in your life, everything you deal with has passed through God’s hands. He either designs it, or he allows it, but all of it as a child of God it can be used for good. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. The scary situations in life, the unknown in life, even the sins in your life can be used by God. All of these point to your need for Him, and your testimony of deliverance through them, which can be used to glorify him. But, you first must seek Him; without him you are a victory for the one who seeks to torment your soul.