Sustained by the God of All Hope
by Jim Clark
"How do you keep praying when you don't hear an answer? How do you cope when your problems won't go away?" Helen Lescheid agonized over these questions when facing her husband's clinical depression. The answers she found will give you hope.
When Helen Lescheid's husband signed himself into the psychiatric hospital, she was devastated. The initial results of treatment left her wrung out with discouragement. Despite all the treatments, medication, and hundreds of prayers, her husband didn't improve.
This crisis dragged her through a five-year cycle of raised and dashed hopes. Her prayers seemed to bounce off the ceiling. If you or a family member have suffered with long-term depression, you know the despair Helen felt. Those dark days can make us feel extremely isolated. We become disillusioned over finding a cure. Family members of sufferers can become profoundly discouraged.
Thankfully, Helen eventually encountered some sunshine of hope. As she repeatedly went to the Lord in Scripture and prayer, she found herself sustained by the love and faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit seeped down into her troubled soul and assured her of His strong presence.
Romans 15:13 was pivotal in keeping her hopes alive:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.My prayer is that whatever trial you're facing, this same promise will help keep your hopes alive.
Are you presently experiencing a new life? God's word says, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" This new life is a free gift of God through faith Jesus Christ. If you want to know more about this life that only Jesus can give you, sign up for one of our Bible courses. Wherever you are in life, whatever you've done, you can begin again. You may also contact Jim Clark at response@heraldoftruth.org if you have questions about becoming a new creation.
Posted: 03/27/2003
URL: http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200303/20030327_hope.html(c) 2003, Herald of Truth and Jim Clark From http://www.hopeforlife.org, used by permission.
(c) 1996-2006, Heartlight, Inc.