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Hope In the Storm (1)Sometimes life is so hard. Maybe it’s your marriage challenges. Maybe it’s other things. I’m here to tell you there is still hope. That you are not alone in your situation. God is a God of hope. And the worry, the anxiety, and the gut-wrenching dread are not inevitable, just because you’re in the midst of suffering. Today, there is hope. Listen in to hear more.

Resources:

Quotes/Scriptures:

  • James 1:3-4 Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have it’s perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.
  • Matt 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
  • My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened. -Michel de Montaigne
  • Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

Find the general transcript below. 

Thanks for listening! I hope you are encouraged to live in wholehearted intimacy!

 

Love,

Belah

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General Transcript:

  • I’m not sure who this is for…
    • if you’re listening to this, maybe you need a little encouragement, maybe a lot
    • I’m not sure who this episode is for, if no one else it’s for me
  • Story of my friend
    • we both are facing storms in our lives
    • But from meeting with her, I left so inspired by her heart
    • I wrote in my journal
      • I’m so encouraged. This life and it’s trials and tribulations are temporary. I instead of being so me-focused, need to focus on the ways God is using this.
        • James 1:3-4
        • Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have it’s perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.
    • So, I hear sermons like this sometimes and I get nervous. It starts making me worry about the storms that may be headed my way. And that’s not what I want to do here. Just so you know… it’s actually the opposite. Because I think worry steals so much of what God has for us.
  • My friend’s storm has to do with her marriage. And it feels very painful in the moment.
  • As I’ve been praying for her since I continue to be inspired by her heart that she is having during this incredibly painful storm.
  • Marriage difficulties are extremely painful
    • I think it’s some of the worst pain because it’s your heart,
      • it even feels like its your value
      • its feels like its your safety
      • its feels like its who you are
      • it can feel all consuming
    • But you’ve heard over and over again on this show that God can utterly redeem the messes of our marriages
  • You may be in the midst of the hardest season of your life
    • You may be faced with unbelievable circumstances
    • I want you to know, that God is looking at your heart in the midst
      • see when we’re in storms it’s clear where we’re putting our safety
        • and the world is not trustworthy like our God is trustworthy
    • Its all about your heart, it’s all about your posture towards Him
    • The way you keep your heart fixed on His in the midst of this storm… That is what He is looking for
    • He’s looking for your faith
  • In the book Sacred Marriage, the book that says “what if marriage is to make us holy, not happy”
    • Gary Thomas also says “God didn’t design marriage to compete with God but to point is to God”
  • Don’t worry
    • a marital storm
      • then there’s the added anguish of anxiety/worry/concern/fretting
      • I remember the knot in my stomach during those years of marital discord
    • But what does Jesus say?
      • “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matt 6:34
      • Jesus wants us to live just for today
      • [read Matt 6:25-34]
    • Focus on just today
    • because if you’re trying to focus on the future or even on the past, you don’t have the energy to do what God is asking you to do today
    • you can’t.
    • you’re too distracted.
      • I think God hates worry
      • worry is distracting
      • it keeps us from thinking about things properly
      • it keeps us paralyzed in fear
      • “My life has been full of many terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened” Michel de Montaigne
      • Stop Worrying and Start Living
      • God doesn’t want your storm to compound with worry
    • That’s all God gives us, today. not yesterday. not even tomorrow. Just right now, today. Focus on today. What is God asking of you today, even right now?
      • maybe it’s to repent of the worry you’ve given you’re marital problems.
      • maybe it’s to repent of the lack of faith you’ve had in God’s provision and plan for your life
    • Remember His mercies are new every morning. He has given you mercy for today. for right now. just ask for it and believe you have received his grace for today.
    • Whatever your situation, you can follow Jesus just for today.
  • So if you’re going through it…I want to stand here also in the midst of my storm and tell you there’s hope
    • and tell you God is with you
    • He has not left you
    • He is with you in the midst of your storm and there is a purpose and a reason for it
    • God knows much more than we do and we will find out how this matters in the long run
      • somehow someway God has a plan and a purpose
  • ‘You can do this’ story
    • I was in a very vulnerable space with a friend not long ago, having to be faced with some significant challenges and I asked her quite sincerely ‘how am I going to be able to do this’ and she answered ‘I don’t know’. I think she was giving war to the difficulty of the situation and I appreciate that.
    • But I’m here as a friend holding your hand, looking into your eyes and I’m here to tell you ‘somehow you can’
    • You are not left alone. God is with you in this. He has not left your side. Don’t lose hope. You will make it through.
    • I am in a season of suffering too and I want you to know we can make it. We are not here by ourselves, Jesus himself co labors with us, the great cloud of witnesses are cheering is on, the angels rejoice at our turning to God
    • We have the hope of eternity moments away. Don’t give up. Don’t lose hope. Keep fighting. Keeping deriving. Keep loving. Keep following God with everything.
  • God is a God of hope
    • and you can have hope in the midst of your storm
    • today
    • right now
    • you can have hope in the midst of your storm

 

 

Transcript

0:02
Welcome to the delight your marriage podcast. This show where you hear from amazing and inspiring wives sharing their struggles, triumphs, and advice for this journey called marriage. Here’s your host, belah. Rose.

0:18
Hi there, and welcome. I want to say thank you for joining me today. Today, we are talking about hope, hope in the midst of the difficulty in the midst of the storm in the midst of your trial and tribulation. If you are in the midst of that, whether it’s about your marriage, or maybe it’s about something else, I want to speak to that today. Because let me just start by saying we serve a God of hope. And whatever it is that you are going through your situation, he knows it, and he is with you in it. So let’s talk about hope. And let’s talk about what that means in the midst of the really, really difficult times.

1:13
So first off, let me just say, I’m not really sure who this is for if this is for you. If you’re listening, maybe you need a little encouragement, maybe you need a lot, maybe you literally Googled hope in the midst of your storm. Or maybe you have been scrolling through podcast episodes, just hoping something with hope would be in the title. So you would have a little encouragement. And I just want to say I hear you I have been there even recently. And that’s why I want to say if it’s not for anyone listening, it’s for me, because I need hope. And I’m in the midst of a storm myself. And I believe that God uses us even in the midst of our storms. And I believe that even where you are today, God is going to use you and is using you. And it’s an opportunity that he can have to use you in the midst of your trials and tribulations. The reason I think this is so important is I recently had coffee with a friend. And we’re both facing storms in our lives, very different ones. But, you know, in the coffee shop, we’re both tearing up and holding each other and it was hard. And I guess beautiful. People would say it was beautiful, you know, when they tear up in public, it’s I just think it was hard. It’s just hard to see your friends suffer, you know, because we’re both in it. But I left meeting with her, I left that meeting. So very, very inspired by her heart. And I wrote in my journal, I said, I’m so encouraged this life, and its trials and tribulations are temporary. And I instead of being so me focused, I need to focus on the ways God is using this. And it’s so true. Because, you know, when I heard her, her situation and what she’s going through and how her heart is just so it’s just so hard. And I feel for her. She said to me, she’s like, but I know God is using this. And you know, tears are welling up in your eyes. I know God is using this. And I was so encouraged. And you know, I looked up the verse James one three through four when I got home. And it says counted all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. I’m just going to read it one more time, count it all joy when you fall into trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces face patients, but let patients have it’s perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So God cares. And it matters about these trials and tribulations that you are going through. And so I hear sermons like this every now and then. And sometimes I get nervous and it starts making me kind of worry about the storms that might be headed my way so that I can get patients. And that’s not what I want to do here. Just so you know, it’s actually the opposite. And I’m going to talk about worry quite a lot because I think that really matters when we’re going through a trial when we’re going through the difficulties because I think worry steal so much of what God has for us. Now my friend storm had to do with her marriage, and it feels so very, very painful in the moment and I’ve been praying for her since and I just continue to be inspired by your heart that she’s having during this incredibly painful storm. And if you are in marriage difficulties right now I just I just want to say they’re extremely really painful. And I think it’s some of the worst pain because it’s your heart. And it even feels like it’s your value. It feels like it’s your safety, it feels like who you are. It’s who you are. It feels like it’s all consuming. And one thing she said to me, and I so appreciate that, she says, but it’s not about him. It’s all about God. It’s all about pointing us back to God. So you’ve heard over and over again on this show, God can utterly redeem the messes of our marriages. But you might be in the hardest season of your life, you may be faced with unbelievable circumstances. And I want you to know that that is what God is looking at, at your heart in the midst. See, when we’re in the storms, it’s clear where we’re putting our trust. It’s clear where our faith really lies, where our security really is. And the world is not a trustworthy place. It’s not where we should be putting our trust. It’s not but God is, he is a trustworthy place. He knows he is bigger than all of the rest.

6:12
But it is all about your heart. It’s all about your posture towards him in the midst, keeping your heart fixed on him in the midst of the storm. That is what he’s looking for. He’s looking for your faith. In the book, sacred marriage, the book that says What if marriage is about is making us holy, not about making us happy. Garris Tom, Gary Thomas also says, God didn’t design marriage to compete with God, but to point us to God. So if you’re in that marital storm, that’s part of it, that that it’s all about pointing us back to God, the affection that you’re not getting the dreams that are not being fulfilled, the difficulties you’re having the the hard times, it’s to point us back to God. But then there’s that added anguish, that anxiety that worry, that concern that fretting, the difficulty of of dreams not being fulfilled, and the concern of what our friends gonna think and the anxiety of, of what’s the future going to hold. And I remember that knot in my stomach during those years of marital discord, it is, it is so, so hard. It is not easy, what you’re going through. But let’s look at what Jesus says. And I’ve been meditating on this quite a lot recently, and I just so encouraged you to as well. It says, Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 634. Jesus tells us to live for today. Not for tomorrow, not for those dreams, not for those things in the future are the things in the past. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Now, I’m just going to read the whole section here, Matthew 625 through 34. It says Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or drink or about your body what you will wear Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes. Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet our heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the fight flowers of the field grow? They do not labor spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire will he not much more clothe you, you have little faith? So do not worry, saying What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. So focus just on today. Because if you’re trying to focus on the future or even focus on the past, you don’t have the energy to do what God is asking you to do today. You can’t You’re too distracted. I think God hates Worry. Worry is distracting. It keeps us from thinking about things properly. Even keeps us paralyzed in fear. Michael de mon Tanya says, My life has been full of many terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened. And I think that’s really true. There’s a book that says, stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie. And I really love that book. I’ve been listening to it recently. I’ll have it in the show notes. But I encourage you to look into that book, because it’s one that’s been I’m gonna write it down. So I don’t forget. But yeah, it’s it’s one that’s been around for 50 plus years. But it’s just such a great classic to encourage you to live each day, the way that God wants you to. You know, I went on a run today. And, you know, I was I was fighting back some anxieties about different things. And,

10:53
and I just kept saying, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice rejoice in the Lord, always. And again, I say, rejoice. And that’s what God asks us to do, in every season, in every circumstance of our life, to rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. I just encourage you right now, to say that to yourself, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. God doesn’t want your storm to compound with worry. And that is all God gives us. It’s today. Not yesterday. It’s not ours anymore. It’s gone. He doesn’t give us tomorrow. That’s not ours, either. He just gives us right now, today. So focus on today. What is God asking of you today, even right now, maybe it’s to repent of the worry that you’ve given your marital problems, that you’ve made them far bigger than they are because you’ve worried so, so much, so desperately, you’ve concerned yourself and made yourself sick, because of all the worry. Maybe it’s to pretend to repent of the lack of faith you’ve had in God’s provision and plan for your life. Now, I want you to remember that His mercies are new every morning. He has given you mercy for today for right now. So just ask for forgiveness of the lack of faith and believe that you’ve received His Grace for Today. Whatever your situation, you can follow Jesus just for today. So if you’re going through it, I want to stand here also in the midst of my storm, and tell you, there’s hope, and tell you God is with you. He has not left you. He is with you in the midst of your storm. And there is a purpose, and there is a reason for it. And God knows so much more than we do. We will find out how this matters in the long run, somehow, some way. God has a plan and a purpose. For this storm for this difficulty. Maybe it’s your marriage, that the problems that you’re going through the ways he’s changing you the ways he’s wanting you to be flexible, the ways he’s asking you to to be a servant, even when it feels unbelievable right now. I just encourage you, just for today. Now, I want to tell you a quick story. I was in a very vulnerable space recently, with a friend It wasn’t even too long ago. And I was faced with something, some significant challenges. And I asked her quite sincerely, how am I going to do this? And she answered in a way that I think she was giving ear to the difficulty of the situation I was in and I appreciated that but she answered and she goes, I don’t know. But here’s what I want to say to you, my dear friend, I am holding your hand I am looking into your eyes and we are crying together. And I am here to de to tell you, somehow you can do this. Somehow you are going to do this. You are not left alone. You are not by yourself. God is with you. He has not left your side, do not lose hope you will make it through. I am in a season of suffering too. And I want you to know that we can make it we are not here by ourselves. Jesus Himself, co laborers with us. The great cloud of witnesses are cheering us on. The angels are rejoicing that we are turning to God in this time in this hour of difficulty. We have the hope of eternity. just moments away. Don’t give up. Don’t lose hope. Keep fighting keep Driving keep loving keep following God with everything God is a God of hope and you can have hope in the midst of your storm today right now you can have hope in your storm my husband would like to pray for you

15:26
God I pray for those listeners their struggles I pray for their wives their husbands or fathers or daughters I prefer her three families that are going through hard times I pray that they come to you even closer even when it feels like we’re getting far away from you God I pray when there’s so much this courage in this world to bring us courage I pray for for families that to bring us together because we are one guy I pray for those families in this world are in so much pain that they’ve been chased you protect them you hold them where your beautiful arms got and we spring up we are okay

16:31
we are safe let us not be comfortable in this world. This is just a path but let us see what’s coming in your presence because our home is with you when it’s time to meet you be glad to see you instead of be afraid I pray for that friend that we’re about to meet we’re about to see how the conversation to encourage the friend and to let us be encouraged

17:10
even when so much pain in this world gotta pray for for Bella my wife to give her the string the piece that uh keep going to this ministry but even sometimes heart God I pray for the listeners that they’ve been touched by other but my wives interviews that I feel encouraged I pray for their sons I pray for the daughters God for your daughters your son’s

18:10
father that has been afraid let us not be afraid let us encourage each other let us be open to our wives. Why sometime it’s so hard to say the honest

18:34
because we don’t want to hurt we’re gonna we don’t want to hurt them. By help us to be open and they can trust us. God nobody can trust but we can trust you. Because you know you’re not going to hurt us

18:57
in our path that we’ll be paying cover that has been strong when there is going to be pain or when there is pain.

19:09
Thank you so much for your presence. Thank you so much for showing me the beauty of your presence. The beauty of other people go thank you so much for helping me find you that other people will find you.

19:31
And then we’ll see so much beauty in this world. Guarding the evening in the seasons of the summer to see it the winter. The spring to see the flowers. And that is a gift that you’ve been given it to us cut the sunrise to let us see the sunrise, the sunset gka

20:00
I pray for those families that are in there or are in pain to be with Him God and let him know that you’re with them. I’ll pray for thank God let us remind us that we even were we are not in pain. That is no forget about you GOD WE LOVE YOU

20:34
thanks for listening. If you’ve been blessed by this, why not share it? Until next time, live with love, wisdom and passion

 

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