God's Good Promises
LINDSEY WEBSTER WILL SOON graduate and begin seminary a few months after that. Like all graduates she is commencing a new life--but I think she's already got a corner on hope . . . and joy. What she wrote offers a lot to me. I hope you enjoy it too.
"I don’t know how it happened, but at some point in my youth, I became an overachiever. Maybe it was because I was the younger sister of two successful and popular overachievers—or maybe it was just because I wanted to try everything. And I did: National Honor Society, cheerleading, theatre, student government, school choir, various leadership positions . . . I thrived in the bustle.
But in one short year, all that changed. I lost the Junior Class President election. I was the only cheerleader cut from the JV squad. I botched my play try-outs. I was dateless for Homecoming. I even lost a Sunday School officer election. Failure was all I felt. Everything important had been taken away, and I started blaming myself. I just wasn’t good enough.
I wasn’t skinny enough, so I stopped eating. I wasn’t interesting enough, so I stopped talking at school. I wasn’t smart enough, so I stopped focusing on my studies. And I wasn’t popular enough, so I slept all afternoon when others my age were hanging out. Pretty soon, I had managed my own disappearance.
On one of my lowest days I felt God knocking on my heart. I went home and looked up 'hope' in my Bible’s concordance. And there it was: Isaiah 40:31. 'But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.' When I read it, I knew I had given up on myself because I had given up on God’s good promises.
This truth has led me toward this Christ-centered journey I’ve undertaken. Now I use everyday trials to strengthen my trust in the Lord’s plans. Now I know He calls us all to find our strength in Him daily, so that we might cling to His Will and find this everlasting hope He alone offers."
You are blessed. Be a blessing!
"I don’t know how it happened, but at some point in my youth, I became an overachiever. Maybe it was because I was the younger sister of two successful and popular overachievers—or maybe it was just because I wanted to try everything. And I did: National Honor Society, cheerleading, theatre, student government, school choir, various leadership positions . . . I thrived in the bustle.
But in one short year, all that changed. I lost the Junior Class President election. I was the only cheerleader cut from the JV squad. I botched my play try-outs. I was dateless for Homecoming. I even lost a Sunday School officer election. Failure was all I felt. Everything important had been taken away, and I started blaming myself. I just wasn’t good enough.
I wasn’t skinny enough, so I stopped eating. I wasn’t interesting enough, so I stopped talking at school. I wasn’t smart enough, so I stopped focusing on my studies. And I wasn’t popular enough, so I slept all afternoon when others my age were hanging out. Pretty soon, I had managed my own disappearance.
On one of my lowest days I felt God knocking on my heart. I went home and looked up 'hope' in my Bible’s concordance. And there it was: Isaiah 40:31. 'But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.' When I read it, I knew I had given up on myself because I had given up on God’s good promises.
This truth has led me toward this Christ-centered journey I’ve undertaken. Now I use everyday trials to strengthen my trust in the Lord’s plans. Now I know He calls us all to find our strength in Him daily, so that we might cling to His Will and find this everlasting hope He alone offers."
You are blessed. Be a blessing!
posted by Chronic Hope at 4:29 PM
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