Tag: hope

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Reader’s Question: Overcoming Difficulty

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Here is a question I get from young and old alike: how can we overcome difficulty? Failed marriages and broken relationships. Financial strain and poor health. Disappointment and shame. We will never rub shoulders with someone who hasn’t experienced some kind of pain or struggle in life. Knowing that we each carry burdens and sorrows, the question deserves careful thought.

How can we overcome difficulty? I think of a time in David’s life that roiled in pain and trouble: returning home after several days away, he discovered his city burned and all the women and children carried away. (See 1 Samuel 30:4) “Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.” Have we ever cried until we couldn’t cry anymore? If this wasn’t bad enough, the people then talked of stoning David because of the tragic loss of their homes and families. Everything David knew and cared about was gone-his house burned down and his wives and children kidnapped and then his own people wanted to kill him! How did David overcome this tragedy? “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” (v.6)

He strengthened himself in the Lord. David got with God. In the middle of confusion, weeping, and pain, David turned his broken heart toward God. He reminded himself of the goodness of God. He remembered all the times that God provided for him and protected him. He fed his heart with hope in God. David then asked God a very direct question: should I pursue this troop? God answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” (v.8) David trusted that he heard God right and he went after his enemies and recovered all that had been stolen.

Do we have difficulty in our life? Are there broken relationships and discarded dreams? Are the struggles of daily life sometimes too much to bear? We must strengthen ourselves in the Lord, dear friend! How do we do that? Just like David, we remember the testimony. “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.” (Psalm 119:2,24) Do we see it? Blessing rests in keeping His testimonies. The testimonies of God are a delight and our counselor. Remembering all the good things God has said and done throughout our lifetime as well as throughout history will strengthen our heart in the day of trouble.  Our hopefulness anchors in the God stories we share and remember. They will be our delight and they will give us strength to follow what God says.

Do we have a testimony of God’s goodness in our lives? If not, take someone else’s! That’s right, take someone else’s God-story as our own, because if He did it for them, He will do it for us. Let the testimonies in scripture become delightful counselors. Relive those God encounters—remembering who God has been and what He has spoken —and we will be strengthened in the Lord. God alone has the encouragement, strength, and direction we need to overcome our difficulty.

*A personal side note to this: Psalm 119 WRECKED me this week. I cried my way through this psalm as God opened my eyes to His wonderful truths hidden in these verses. This psalm is an alphabetic acrostic divided into 22 stanzas with eight couplets in each stanza. All the couplets in the first stanza begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, aleph; the couplets in the second begin with the second letter, beth; and so on to the end of the poem. This appears to be an expansion of David’s Psalm 19:7-11. Wow, God’s Word never gets old. I hope you get wrecked by His love this week!

For more good stuff, check out my book, Gracious Living, creating a culture of honor, love, and compassionanywhere books are sold. Keep those questions coming and feel free to share my blog with anyone who might need an encouraging word!

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Way Maker

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Sometimes the ridiculous hopefulness of God can rush over us like a river.  We sang Way Maker by Leeland at church: “Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness. My God, that is who You are.” The truth of that song flooded my heart this week. God makes a way where there is no way.

Biblical stories rush to mind on this point: Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. “They had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians.” (Exodus 12:35-36) God then parted the Red Sea so that they could flee but the Egyptian army drowned. I thought of the Babylonian captivity ending with Cyrus, King of Persia, not only commissioning the rebuilding of the temple but also returning all the beautiful articles of the house of God that had been stolen in the captivity. “This is the number of them: thirty gold platters, one thousand silver platters, twenty-nine knives, thirty gold basins, four hundred and ten silver basins and one thousand other articles. All the articles of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred.” (Ezra 1:9-11) I couldn’t tell you how many of anything we own–but here exists an exact record of items from the year 538 B.C. Maybe God outlined such specific accounting because He wanted us to know His blessings aren’t random or haphazard.

And, of course I thought of personal examples I’ve witnessed over the past month of God making a way where there was no way. A new friend shared how God took her from debilitating addiction into the total restoration of her family, faith, and health. He was restoring to her a family experience richer in forgiveness and joy than they had ever known before.

How has God made a way for you, my friend? Has He provided, protected, envisioned for your life? I feel this is a season of restoration and return. I believe that God is wanting to restore what has been stolen. He is wanting to return beauty and joy in our lives. And we know that when God restores, He doesn’t skimp! God brings richness and fulness beyond what we can ask. He counts it out to us in greater detail than we can imagine. How many of us hunger for a restoration—of our health, relationships, career, and dreams? God is a way maker. He provides streams in the desert (Isaiah 35:6) We have experienced His refreshment during dry and weary times. Does He not make a highway through our desert? No matter what heartache we may be suffering, whatever obstacles or losses we face, we must trust God to make a way for us.

Take time this week to reflect on what God may be restoring to you. Ask Him to be your Way Maker and give God honor for all the good He has poured into your life. Be encouraged dear friends, His restoration is on the way!

Visit www.MargaretAllen.org for more resources. You can get Mondays with Margaret as an email each week—just scroll to the bottom of Mondays and sign up! Follow me on Insta @MargaretAllen.GL

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One Year

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2 Cor 4:7 “But we have this treasure in earthen containers, so that the extraordinary greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves”

In our ever-changing world consistency is surprisingly unique. Pop icons discuss in detail the way they brew their tea or fold their clothes. Why do we read that stuff?  In our fluid way of life perhaps we long for some hard-core consistency. Think about it a moment, what’s one of the hardest things you’ve done recently? Isn’t it just showing up? Doesn’t it involve staying under something, being consistent, doing hard things day after day? People around us may not even realize we are working to be consistent in our marriage, job, health, and habits.

Most of my life I’ve just kept my head down and done my work. I don’t complain much when I’m in a tough spot and I don’t celebrate much when I have a breakthrough. But I’ve realized there is a vulnerability in being honest and inviting others to collaborate when the road is just too hard alone. If you’re like me, talking with others about what you’re learning helps you to process it all. So, I would like to share about a milestone in my life this week.

One year. I am celebrating one year of publishing a weekly blog and one year since my book came out. If you haven’t read through my book with a friend, I hope you will invest in your inner world and get Gracious Living, creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion. As many of you know, I agonize over writing. But time and time again I feel God show up as I show up! In the past year, the words would flow some weeks, but other times I felt I had absolutely nothing to say. And those were the hard times to dig deep and search out, well, what has God shown me recently? Consistency in writing built some muscle for me as an author. It helped me hone my voice and lean in to God. Consistently showing up forced me to battle procrastination, fear, and shame.

In 1 Timothy 4:14 the Apostle Paul exhorts Timothy, a young pastor in training, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you.” Then, in 2 Timothy 1:6 Paul instructs him to “fan into flame the spiritual gift with in.” Do not neglect it and fan it into flame–these two exhortations indicate our natural tendency is to neglect or rest passively with our gifts either from fear, shame, resistance, or just laziness. Is it possible that where we encounter the greatest resistance could be our area of greatest giftedness? Paul tells Timothy, “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.” (1 Timothy 4:15) 

Rather than just keeping my head down and doing my work, never complaining and also never really celebrating, I want to meditate on these things with you. I want to celebrate showing up consistently for a year while also confessing it was hard! But I made it, and I’m a better writer because of it and hopefully more dependent on the Spirit of God than ever before. Where do you struggle with consistency?

We all are working toward something in the coming year. What are the hard choices we need to make right now to land where we want to be next year or five years from now? Consistency really matters in the small things of life and it builds the road that leads us into the big things. Self-discipline, honesty, thoughtfulness- done over a long period of time, pay off. Clearly, we are merely earthen containers; it is the extraordinary greatness of God that fills us up.

Have a great week everyone! Go to www.MargaretAllen.org for free resources and to sign up to get this blog in your email every Monday. 

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God’s Thumbprint

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In what feels like day 666 of this stupid year I am searching for hope and direction. I wonder how to reflect the love of God in this climate. I ask myself, am I truly changed by Christ; do I look like Him? Now I want to touch a deeper truth, so hang in with me! God showed me something so darn cool. 

 He brought to mind a seed. A seed contains the complete imprint of what it produces. In one tiny apple seed lies all the genetic and cellular information needed to produce an apple tree. Nothing needs to be added to that imprint of a seed other than favorable conditions of water, soil, and sunlight.

Now consider this:

1 Peter 1:23 “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” I am reeling from the implications of this truth. Add to it John’s words:

John 1:12,13 “He gave the right to become the children of God to those who believed in His name; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” It’s like we carry the thumbprint of God in our heart!

We are born of imperishable seed. We are born again not by the will of flesh but by the will of God. When we said yes to Jesus Christ, we were born again to become a brand new being. In that seed contains the complete imprint of who God designed us to be! Our part is to partner with the process by choosing favorable conditions to life. We can choose to spend time in the Word, prayer, and service.  We can partner with honor, love, and compassion. His life has been planted in every believer. No matter our highs and lows, closeness or distance with God or people- we bear His image because we are born again, not of perishable or corruptible seed. God was actually delighted to bring us into this new relationship of being His children.  He is excited to lead us to fulfill our destiny, not of our own effort, but by partnering with the treasure He has already planted in us. This is great news.

My friend, do you wrestle with doubts about your spiritual growth? Do you question how you reflect His life? I would love to hear how this picture of being born of His seed is transforming for you. It may feel like day six-hundred of this year, but we can learn to rest in God’s goodness. We can trust His gracious design.

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Have you gotten your copy of Gracious Living, creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion? Get it today on Amazon or http://www.MargaretAllen.org

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Unlikely Comfort

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My college kids headed out in the boat for the last run of the day. Lake Shasta had not disappointed in a day filled with wakeboarding excitement and laughter.  As the sun was setting, my daughter Nicole took a hard fall after jumping the wake. She fell forward and her board popped up, hitting her in the back of her head.  She was able to climb onto the boat, unaware of the blood flowing down her neck.

The kids raced for the marina to get cell service to call 911 and to let us know what happened. As Nicole was lifted into the ambulance, she instantly had a feeling that she would be prayed for on the way to the hospital. Whether she was seeking distraction from her pain or just curious how prayer would happen, she asked Ashley, the EMT, how he handled seeing trauma every day.  He replied, “Honestly, it’s Jesus.” Nicole smiled and said, “Do you go to Bethel church?” He replied yes. They talked about their church and healing experiences.  As they pulled up to the hospital, Ashley prayed for her healing.

Listen to these words from the Apostle Paul: “We were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears.  Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus” (2 Corinthians 7:5b-6) Where do you receive comfort when you are hurt or afraid? Who can you turn to when you need healing and help? God sends us comfort, sometimes in unlikely places. One minute you can be jamming on a wakeboard and the next you’re in an ambulance but God knows all about it. He sends encouragement and faith through a Titus, or in our case, an Ashley. Outside are conflicts, inside are fears, but God finds us.

In every difficult situation you encounter, God offers help. Maybe it’s a neighbor who is praying for you, a friend who pays your rent, a co-worker who reaches out. Maybe it’s a huge lit-up cross on the side of a hospital to remind you that God knows all about your pain. No matter how that comfort comes, take it as a wink from God. If you encounter opportunities this week to be that help, that unlikely prayer warrior, healer, encourager-BE the provision sent by God. You never know how God may use you to bring encouragement, healing, or transformation in someone’s life.

After an agonizing five hour wait outside the emergency room of (no joke) Mercy hospital, Nicole emerged stitched, bandaged, and cheerful. She told us about Ashley’s prayer, confidently assuring us she would not have a concussion.  The next morning Nicole was not concussed. She didn’t even have a headache. That was God’s wink for her. 

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I love witnessing the tender ways God encounters regular folks like you and me! I share these stories in my book, Gracious Living, creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion. Get it today at www.MargaretAllen.org  

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Beautiful Resilience

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I am a proud survivor of this year’s family camping trip. You remember I mentioned a glorious trek into the Emigrant Wilderness last week. Perhaps I should have printed T-shirts with a giant mosquito on the front and the simple statement “I survived Wood Lake 2020.” I thought the hike to our campsite was twelve miles. I had water for about that much. Turns out it’s more like sixteen miles but who’s counting? (Uhh, me actually)

It was so 2020! This must be the year of doing hard things. I didn’t realize the altitude would affect me so greatly. My feet blistering wasn’t quite in my plan, either. I got worn out, honestly. Then the mosquitoes took it to a whole new level of uncomfortable. But maybe life is feeling that way for many of us: a whole new level of uncomfortable. The economy, marriage, parenting, working from home, feeling lonely have worn us down. Are you struggling my friend?  Maybe the road you are on has taken an unfortunate twist. But once you head into that wilderness there’s just no turning back now, is there? You may find in the strenuous journey that you emerge a different person: stronger, wiser, more compassionate, and flexible.

Here’s the scripture that carried me through that sixteen-mile hike: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persevering in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) I figure that if the apostle Paul can write this admonition as one who suffered much, surely it can nourish and support me with my daily struggles. Seriously, when your marriage aches with pain and baggage, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persevering in prayer.” Are medical issues weighing heavy on your heart, my friend? Are you wondering if anyone sees your life? Whatever struggle, whatever long ass journey you are on, be joyful in hope, don’t give up! Be patient in difficulty. Persevere in prayer. When this truth is your compass, the strength of God guides you. He will surely answer the cry of your heart. With each step, be joyful in hope, another step, patient in affliction, more steps, persevering in prayer, step by step. Joyful in hope. Patient in affliction. Persevering in prayer. As the trail grows steep so does your hopefulness. Resilience is invigorating. People will wonder at your patience and strength of character. Prayerfulness will steady your life and create a beautiful culture all around. The bottom line is love. When we are joyful, persevering, and prayerful we are actually loving ourselves, loving others, and even loving God.

On the journey, I had people cheering me on. I hope you do too. Either way, you are a proud survivor. Keep moving forward! Resilience feels great and it looks good on you too. Romans 12:12 is a guide; let it direct you no matter how long the journey. When you overcome difficulties this week, congratulate yourself on hanging in there! Appreciate what God is carefully crafting in your life.

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Do you need resources right now to come alongside your spiritual journey? Go to MargaretAllen.org to get Gracious Living, creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion.

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Hopefulness

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What do you see when you look at this picture? A young groom and a minister watch as the bride walked down the aisle. It was a lovely day in June. In spite of a pandemic the small group that gathered for this occasion was filled with joy.

A picture is worth a thousand words, isn’t it? I see prayers fulfilled. It turns out this precious groom, Gabriel Paxton Smith, is the young man I started praying for 24 years ago. I look back at the things I prayed for my daughter’s husband to be and Gabe is every bit of that and more! Given that their wedding occurred in the middle of a pandemic and racial crisis, I feel that their marriage will be used to bring healing and restoration in their generation. 

I see hope. The bride and groom are filled with hope when they dream about their future. They vowed to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.

But I see prayer fulfilled in our minister, the Reverend Eriq K Truitt-Reed as well. I’ve prayed for greater inclusion in the diversity of our spiritual leaders. Eriq is a spirit-filled leader and minister to me. I look to him as a model of one who has suffered racism and yet lives from honor. I grew up hearing “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood” from MLK’s “I have a Dream” speech. My children grew up reading from “Martin’s Big Words” by Doreen Rappaport of how one day little black boys and black girls will join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I’ve been praying not only for our nation, but also our community and family to cherish people around us, honoring our differences and welcoming deep friendships. Eriq reminds me that my life is better because of that solid rock of brotherhood.

My friends, this is just one little picture from one little backyard, but it speaks hope to me. It speaks honor, love, and righteousness. I’ve heard testimony recently that pictures and articles telling beautiful stories of reconciliation are being suppressed from social media. Good and hopeful stories are buried so that you can’t see them. Share this story. More importantly, keep building a culture around you of honor, love, and compassion. Pray for the future you want to see—in future sons-in-law as well as a brotherhood and sisterhood filling our lives with beautiful diversity. Pray for justice in our country; love in our homes.

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.” Psalms 89:14

Go to MargaretAllen.org to sign up to receive this blog in your email each week or to purchase the book, Gracious Living, Creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion. 

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Sent

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It seems like two days ago I was buckling my four precious kiddos into their seats in the tan minivan. This week the oldest is getting married and the youngest is graduating from high school. My sentimental feelings are wildly juxtaposed with feelings of sadness over our country’s systemic racism. Our family conversations have careened from George Floyd’s murder to decorating the wedding cake. And who the hell has time for Coronavirus right now?

My dad worked at M.D. Anderson hospital in the 1960’s. I remember asking him about racism back then. It turns out that M.D. Anderson had segregated bathrooms and water fountains in the ‘60’s. Being from the North, he was not familiar with these practices. My dad said he was reprimanded when he went into the “Black” bathroom or drank from a “colored only” water fountain. He told me, “As scientists, we thought it was ridiculous. We knew that under a microscope everyone’s blood looks the same.” Cautiously, I asked him what he did about it. I’ll never forget his answer: “I was working on my PhD. We were newly married and starting our family. Our life was so busy. I didn’t do anything about it. I was just living my life.” Sigh.

Am I really any different? I read works of black authors, support black businesses, push for diversity in my small circles of influence, but these are small gestures. And they cost me nothing. Again, deep sigh. In the midst of graduations and planning a backyard wedding, a new resolve has awakened in my heart to do better, to be more curious, more thoughtful, more honoring.

We watched the Netflix documentary 13th last night. I recommend it. If you have never heard Bryan Stevenson, check out his insightful Ted talk: “We need to talk about an Injustice” These are great starting points for discussion. We all have much listening and learning to do.

Hope came to me in a surprising way this week. With all these emotions swirling around me, of course I turned to scripture to find some insight. I looked and prayed and looked some more. Nothing stood out until I came across Psalms 127:4 “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.” An arrow only fulfills its purpose when it is SENT. Each one of us as a child of God are sent into the world for a purpose. I have sent my children out as arrows—to fight injustice and oppression and to bring healing and light. Be a SENT one this week my friend. Create a culture of honor, love, compassion, and justice.

Go to MargaretAllen.org to buy my book, Gracious Living, Creating a culture of honor, love, and compassion. If you prefer an E version, go to Amazon or Barnes&Noble.