How to Have Hope When Things Fall Apart

When this post goes live, I’ll be winging my way around the world to my home away from home in Kenya.  I appreciate your prayers for us as we travel, and I really appreciate the help of blogging friends who’ve graciously offered to guest post for me this month!  Today’s post is an encouraging word from Emilee at MyLifeinSpanish.  Emilee is a South GA girl who lives and ministers in Honduras with her husband and writes about faith, marriage and missionary life.  Be sure to visit her blog today and read some more of her wonderful words!

It was the middle of the night.

I was dead asleep when I felt my bedroom began to tremble. As my bedroom was right beside the laundry room, in my slumber, I thought “What in the world is wrong with that washing machine?”

As soon as that thought cleared my mind, I jumped up and was suddenly wide awake. This was no washing machine problem. This was an earthquake!

Living in Honduras had given this South Georgia girl MANY new experiences but an earthquake might have topped the list. I watched the walls shift back and forth. My housemate, who had really become like my sister, ran back to my room and exclaimed “Emilee, what do we do?!”

How was I supposed to know? All I could think of was Mrs. Waldron’s 6th science class. “Stand in the door frame!” I shouted.

The wiser thing probably would have been to go outside but again this South Georgia girl who had never before experienced an earthquake wasn’t sure if the earth would open up and swallow us whole so I guess I decided it would be better for us to stay inside where instead the house could have crumbled down upon us. (Insert eye roll and maybe a little laughter here!)

It lasted less than a minute but gosh, it seemed so much longer and it took much longer than a minute to drift back off to sleep after that adrenaline rush but eventually I did.

The next morning I awoke and prepared to go to church. When I arrived at the rural mountain church, the earthquake was all everyone was talking about. Thankfully we had been located far enough away from the epicenter to not receive any real damage.

As church began, Fermina made her way up front where she opened her Bible that she was still learning how to read and she read Isaiah 54:10…

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will

not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

I felt both amazed and ashamed as she read those words. Ashamed, because I, who had been a Christian almost my entire life had never read those words and Fermina, who was just learning to read had found them all on her own. (We all need to be humbled at times.) Amazed, because the words she was reading were not just words on a page but real life, tangible. We had felt the mountains be shaken and when morning came, His love—His unfailing love was still there. It had not been removed.

How many times in life do we have mountains be shaken?

Husbands walk out the door.

Bank accounts fall to zero.

Doctor reports say it’s back.

Children walk away from the faith.

Jobs come to an end.

Prayers seem to go unanswered.

And we are shaken. Our mountains of life are shaken to its core. It looks as though all hope is lost BUT Jesus. He is faithful.

His unfailing love for you will NEVER be removed.

Oh how easy it is to just see the fallen mountains before us. But in the midst of the rumble, in the midst of the ruins and the pain, we must remember to turn our eyes to the One who never fails us but loves us with unfailing love.

That love has the power to move mountains and, may I say, rebuild those mountains too.

We can look to Him. On those days, where we are certain nothing could get any worse and on those days we are jumping for joy, we can look to Him. We can trust Him. Because though the mountains may be shaken, He never will be. He will always love us with His unfailing love.

On that, my friends, you can count.

Oh what a wonderful thought!  Please leave a comment and encourage Emilee if her words have encouraged you today!  Also, be sure to link up for Encouraging Word Wednesday this week.  Just leave a link or two and visit another blogger to encourage them as well!