The Lord dropped this topic on my heart recently and it’s honestly a struggle to believe what I’m writing. To activate my faith so that I can actually live out what I’m about to encourage you to do. So, just know that:
-
I don’t have it all together
-
It’s a journey and we’re all figuring it out one day at a time
-
I’m honored to share with you things that the Lord is teaching me and that I’m wrestling myself in hopes that you receive encouragement through the word of my testimony.
All that introduction to say that the Lord is teaching me about: envy, comparison, patience, faith, endurance, hope, contentment, and rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn. Just to name a few.
He told me, “Raina, every time you see someone else reach a milestone that you desire and want for your own life, I’m giving you an opportunity to genuinely rejoice with them and celebrate them. But more than that, see it as a confirmation of my promise to you. Further proof that just as I did it for them, I can and I WILL do it for you. You often view the fulfillment of their desire as a lack in your own life and start to doubt my goodness and faithfulness to come through on my promise to you in this area. But, I’m challenging you to see it as validation that I will do the same for you in my perfect timing and as an opportunity to bolster your faith in me and my goodness for your life in this specific area.”
In essence, I am to view this beautiful God-ordained event in their life as a Rainbow, a sign of the promise, instead of a cherry dangling in front of me that I can’t have.
But y’all, this is HARD. And, that’s why it takes faith. It’s God’s nudge to us to remind ourselves of His promise(s) to us and to reflect on His unchanging nature of love and goodness towards us so that instead of causing us to distrust and doubt and envy, we GET to thank God for this amazing blessing in others’ lives and further bolster our faith with HOPE that He did it once and He will do it again.
In Elevation’s words in “Do It Again”:
Your promise still stands
Great is your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in your hands
This is my confidence, You never failed me yet
I’ve seen You move, come move the mountains
And I believe, I’ll see you do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I”l see you do it again
To the woman that has suffered yet another miscarriage and continues to get invites to baby showers and wonders how to politely decline because her heart can’t take the pain it would endure if she attended
To the father who just got laid off and is struggling with his identity and role as provider for his family who sees his buddy get promoted at a company he’s only been at for a year
To the child who is hospitalized once again and mourns the loss of his long-time cancer partner-in-crime who’s been in remission for 6 months now
To the woman preparing her maid of honor speech for her friend who is marrying for the second time, wondering if God forgot her or if something’s wrong with her as her dreams of marriage appear more and more futile each year that passes
To the teenager paralyzed by anxiety and depression, who’s entertaining suicidal thoughts, as he scrolls through social media and sees all his peers living joy-filled lives, apparently unfazed by life’s difficulties
There is HOPE. I’ll say it again: There is hope. In this moment of despair when you doubt God’s goodness to you and for you, you have a choice. To choose faith and hope or to choose despair and the lies of the Enemy.
The Enemy whispers to you, “God doesn’t see you. He forgot about you. He didn’t really promise you that, anyhow. He obviously loves them more than you. Does God even love you if he’d treat you like this?” Satan employs the age-old lie from the garden, “Did God really say…?”
He wants you to doubt the Promise God gave to you in this area, because if he can get you to doubt the promise, he can get you to doubt the Promise Maker, God Himself.
And, that’s dangerous territory, my friends. For once we start doubting God and His character, we start to distance ourselves from Him. And, this only worsens the problem as He’s the only one who can actually comfort us and show us His perspective, Truth.
But, He’s so gracious and compassionate towards us. Everything the Enemy uses for evil, He turns for good. Each time we doubt Him or His promises and wallow in self-pity, envy, anger, bitterness, and hopelessness, He gently takes us in His arms and reminds us of His promises and loves us even as we doubt His goodness. Because, that’s just who He is.
So, the next time someone else gets what you desire but haven’t yet seen fulfilled, step back for a moment. Remind yourself of the Promise and the loving Father who promised it to you. For He is a good Father who gives good gifts. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
And, He WILL make good on His promises to you. All His promises are Yes and Amen in Jesus. Celebrate the person who has received the fulfillment of the promise and know that just as He came through for them, so will He come through for you, exceedingly and abundantly more than you can ask or imagine.
All my love,
Raina
Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.
Joshua 23:14
I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Genesis 9:13
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:24
