You know, life happens. It is indiscriminate as to who or how it affects us, and it always leaves us empty when it hits. It causes us to feel alone and abandoned at times, and yet we are expected to press on as if we were invincible. But the reality is that no one is invincible. Everyone is affected when "life" happens. Whe we're seemingly under the thumb of circumstances and situations, our perspective gets very cloudy, to say the least. We sometimes can't see any way out of the situation and hopelessness can begin to settle in. Even if the way things look is truly difficult, we can think that we will not survive it. However, that isn't always the case.
I remember a financial counselor friend of mine telling me years ago, "I know you're behind the 8 ball with your creditors, but remember that they can't eat you up! You WILL come out of this." That wasn't the least bit comforting at the time, even though it was true. For me, the most comforting thing would have been to receive an insane amount of finances to pay every one of my creditor in full! Now THAT would have been encouraging! But "life" doesn't always work that way. I mean, it does happen, but that isn't the norm. Working "through" tough times is really the norm of living. We must "do" life, not just simply exist while it tramples us.
Which brings me to the point of this article. How can we do life if our perspective is despair? How can we live if our perception of the light at the end of the tunnel of circumstance is really a speeding train heading straight for us? In order to do life and do it well, we must have a "higher perspective" than the one that faces us at the moment. The higher perspective can only truly come when we calm our hearts and be still long enough to notice. For example, have you ever observed how an eagle flies? You'll notice that it uses its wings only a little and then glides, riding on the wind. And it is often at that time that it is able to see from incredible heights what it needs to survive: food! From that elevated position it is able to locate precisely where their food is and find an end to their hunger for that moment. But what we don't see is that the eagle rides on "heat thurmals" rising from the earth surface. That's one of the things that keep it airborn. As long as it stays within the heat thurmal, it can see clearly how to survive.
So it is with you and I. God says in John 15:4-5, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." And further in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
The application is this: Christ is your "heat thurmal" and causes you to "mount up with wings as eagles (Isaiah 40:31)" so that you can see clearly how to make it through life's intrusions. Stopping and being still in your heart and mind is you waiting on that heat thurmal to lift you up above the circumstance so that you can see with a heavenly perspective instead of an earthly one. You don't have the power to do this by yourself, so God says you can do it by the power of Jesus as you abide and live and daily exist in the knowledge, understanding, and relationship with Him. And in turn, receiving Him to live, abide, and daily exist in you. He will lift you up and cause you to see as He sees. Therein lies YOUR hope for tomorrow.
Happy hunting!