Compassionate Love: Displaying compassion for those who struggle with mental illness (c) 2017 Nancy Virden, Always The Fight Ministries
Greetings Friend,
This blog is usually a faith-based mental health and recovery one. Posts are most often about abuse, mental illness, hope, and how to be supportive. Today I am veering away from the usual, because there is so much uncertainty in the world.
Fact is, life is full of struggles. Focusing on all the not-so-great and could-happens is unnerving at best. Fear and anxiety threaten to undo the most stalwart of hearts. The Bible is where God’s promises are in writing. Despite hurricanes, rumors of war, wildfires, and political upheavals, we want peace, joy, and hope. God offers them.
There are myriads of false teachers, misquoting and adding to what God said. So why not go to the source and get it right? “For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does.” (Psalm 33:4)
God’s promises often come with conditions
“This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him… Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday…”
Promise: JOY, FORGIVENESS, FREEDOM FROM GUILT
Condition: Those who live in complete honesty. Those who confess sin and pray, those who obey God.
“Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment… Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.
So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!”
Promise: WATCHED OVER BY GOD, HOPE
Condition: Those who fear him and rely on his unfailing love
“The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory— for all its strength, it cannot save you. But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love…
We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.”
Promise: NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH AFTER THIS ONE IS DESTROYED; WORLD FILLED WITH GOD’S GOODNESS
Condition: Those who believe on Jesus and are on guard, not carried away by lies and meaningless musings of people who reject God
“On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness…
And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.”
Why this post
Some might say writing a post like this is bad for business. I know it will not make me popular. Nonetheless, “success” is not my priority, and popularity, while nice, is often based on telling people what they want to hear. What matters most is that readers know their eternal options.
I’ve said many times in different ways that Jesus promised we will have trouble. Followers of Jesus are not alone. He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”*
*******COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.
NOTE: I am not a doctor or a mental health professional. I speak only from personal experiences with and observations of mental illness. In no way is this website intended to substitute for professional mental health care.
If you are struggling emotionally today or feeling suicidal, or concerned about someone who is, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Hope and help is yours
Always the Fight 