Maybe you know that feeling. That
hollow ache of praying and not hearing anything back. Of reading a verse and
thinking, That sounds beautiful; but does it actually apply to me? Right now?
In this?
I want to be honest with you
today, woman to woman: faith in a difficult season is not a warm, glowing
thing. Sometimes it is white-knuckled and desperate. Sometimes it is just
showing up to your Bible even when it feels dry.
But I also want to tell you what I
discovered on the other side of that season; or rather, what held me through
it. God's promises. Not as motivational quotes. Not as pretty graphics on
Pinterest. As actual, living, breathing anchors that kept me from being swept
away.
These seven promises are the ones
I came back to again and again. I'm praying they meet you right where you are
today.
✦ ✦ ✦
Promise 1: He Will Never Leave You
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified
because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you
nor forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:6
There was a Tuesday evening I
remember sitting in my car in the driveway for twenty-two minutes. I didn't go
inside. I just sat there because I genuinely didn't know how to walk back into
the house and pretend that everything was okay when I was so, so tired of
pretending.
And in that silence, the kind
that feels loud; I heard that quiet, unmistakable nudge. Not an audible voice.
Just a settling in my chest, like someone sitting down next to me in the dark.
He was there. He had been there the whole time.
This promise in Deuteronomy wasn't
written to people who had it together. It was spoken to the Israelites on the
edge of the Promised Land; terrified, grief-stricken after losing Moses,
looking at the unknown ahead of them. God said: I'm not going anywhere.
Whatever you're facing today; your driveway moment, your 2am sleeplessness, your quiet grief; He is in it
with you. Not just watching from a distance. With you.
Journal Prompt:
Where do I feel most alone
right now? What would it change if I truly believed God was present in that
exact place?
✦ ✦ ✦
Promise 2: He Will Give You Peace
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give
to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be
afraid."
John 14:27
I used to think peace meant the
absence of hard things. That if I had enough faith, the anxiety would stop, the
diagnosis would change, the relationship would mend. I spent a lot of time
praying for peace as if it were a destination I hadn't yet arrived at.
But the peace Jesus offers is
different. He said it right before His own crucifixion; the single most
painful event in human history was about to unfold, and He offered His
disciples peace not because the hard thing was going away, but because He was
going to be with them through it.
My grandmother; a woman of
steady, unshakeable faith, used to say: 'Baby, peace isn't the quiet before
the storm. It's the calm in the middle of one.' I did not understand what she
meant until I lived it.
The peace of God is not logical.
It does not make sense according to circumstances. Philippians 4:7 says it
'surpasses all understanding.' You don't manufacture it. You receive it; by
prayer, by surrender, by releasing your grip on the outcome one more time.
🙏 Prayer Prompt: Lord, I confess I've been trying to manage this in my own
strength. I release it to You right now. Give me Your peace; the kind that
doesn't make sense but holds me anyway. Amen.
✦ ✦ ✦
Promise 3: He Will Strengthen You
"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of
the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but
those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength."
Isaiah 40:29–31
Here's something I never expected
to feel at thirty-four years old: completely empty. Not tired-need-a-nap empty.
Empty like a well that had been drawn from too long and too deep.
I had been caring for everyone
around me; my children, my husband, aging parents, friends going through
crises and one morning I woke up and simply had nothing left to give. I
wasn't even sad about it. I was just hollow.
Isaiah 40 is one of the most
tender passages in all of Scripture. What strikes me is that God doesn't tell
the weary to try harder, to push through, to get it together. He says He gives
strength to the weary. The weary don't earn it. They receive it. But notice the
condition: those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
Waiting on God in a difficult season
is not passive. It is an act of radical trust. It is choosing, again and again,
to look to Him instead of your own reserves.
You don't have to have anything
left. Give Him the empty and watch what He does with it.
Journal Prompt:
In what area of my life do I
feel most depleted right now? What would it look like to 'wait on the Lord' in
that specific area this week?
✦ ✦ ✦
Promise 4: He Will Work All Things for Your
Good
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28
I want to be careful with this
promise, because I know it can land wrong when you're in the middle of
something really painful. Saying 'God works all things for good' to someone in
the depths of loss can feel dismissive; like someone is trying to fast-forward
your grief.
So let me say this first: whatever
you're walking through right now is real. Your pain is not small. God does not
minimize it, and neither should we.
But this promise; I have seen it
hold up over time. Not in the moment. In the rearview mirror.
The friendship that dissolved? It
created space for me to finally be still enough to hear God again. The health
scare? It forced a slowdown that led to a conversation with my daughter I had
been too busy to have. I would never have chosen those things. And I'm still
not grateful for the pain itself. But I am in awe of what God built in the
rubble.
Romans 8:28 is not a promise that
everything will feel good. It is a promise that nothing is wasted. Not one
tear. Not one hard year. Not one broken season. God is a Redeemer; which means
He takes what was meant for harm and works it into something only He could
craft.
Journal Prompt:
Looking back; is there a
painful season God has since redeemed in my life? What did He build from that
rubble? Let that be your evidence for today.
✦ ✦ ✦
Promise 5: He Will Provide for Your Every Need
"And my God will meet all your needs according to the
riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19
One of the most vulnerable things
I will ever share with you: there was a season our bank account was frightening.
Not uncomfortable; frightening. I would pray in the morning; check the
account balance and feel like there was a weight on my
chest.
I know I'm not alone in this.
Women carry financial fear quietly and privately, often while still showing up,
still giving, still trusting; all the while quietly white-knuckling a budget that
wasn't adding up.
I won't pretend God always
provides the way I think He will. Sometimes it was a check that arrived
unexpectedly. Sometimes it was a neighbor dropping off groceries. Once, it was
the courage to make a phone call I had been too proud to make. God's provision
rarely comes through the door I was watching.
But here is what I have never been
able to dispute: I am still here. The things I truly needed; God provided. Not
always lavishly. Not always comfortably. But faithfully.
He is the same God who multiplied
loaves and fish in front of thousands of hungry people. He has not run out of
resources. And He has not run out of care for you.
✏️ Practical Tip: Start a 'God's Provision' list in your journal; a
running record of every time He came through, big or small. On hard days, read
it. Let His faithfulness be your courage.
✦ ✦ ✦
Promise 6: He Has Plans to Give You a Future
and a Hope
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord,
'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future.'"
Jeremiah 29:11
Can I tell you something important
about this verse that changed everything for me?
Jeremiah 29:11 was written to
God's people while they were in Babylon; in exile. In captivity. Far from
home, far from everything they knew, wondering if God had forgotten them
entirely. And into that darkness, He spoke: I have not forgotten you. I have
plans for you. Good ones.
I used to read this verse as a
promise about my future; about what was coming next, the breakthrough, the
open door. But lately I've been reading it as a promise about God's character.
He is a God who plans. He is a God who hopes for us. Even when we cannot see
it. Even when it looks like exile.
If you are sitting in what feels
like a waiting room with no end, or a chapter that has gone on too long, or a
life that looks nothing like you thought it would at this age; this promise is
for you. Specifically, stubbornly, tenderly for you.
Hope is not wishful thinking. It
is confident expectation in a God who has never broken a promise. And beloved,
He has never broken one yet.
Journal Prompt:
What does hope feel like in my
body right now? What would it look like to choose it today; not as a feeling,
but as an act of trust?
✦ ✦ ✦
Promise 7: He Will Complete the Good Work He
Began in You
"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in
you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Philippians 1:6
This is the promise I come back to
when I am most tempted to believe I am too far gone, too broken, too late, too
much, or not enough.
God doesn't start things He doesn't
intend to finish. And He started something in you. On purpose. With intention.
Not by accident.
The hard seasons are not evidence
that He has abandoned the work. Sometimes they are the work. The grinding,
uncomfortable, refining process of becoming who He created you to be. I have
never come out of a difficult season the same woman who went in. And that is
not because I am impressive. It is because He is faithful.
You are not a lost cause. You are
a work in progress in the hands of the Master and He does not do shoddy work.
He began it. He is completing
it. And He will not stop until it is done.
✦ ✦ ✦
Closing: Let These Promises Anchor You
Friend, if you've made it to the
end of this post, I want to say something simple to you: I see you. I don't
know the specifics of what you're walking through right now, but I know this; you are not walking it alone, and you are not walking it without promises.
These seven anchors are not
feel-good phrases. They are covenant words from a God who has a perfect track
record. He has never left. He has never failed to provide. He has never
abandoned a work He started. Not once.
So in this difficult season; whatever it looks like for you, I want to invite you to do one thing:
Choose one of these promises.
Write it somewhere you'll see it every day this week. Let it be your anchor.
And when the waves come, because
they will; hold on. He is holding on to you even tighter.
✦ ✦ ✦
With
grace and love,
Daily
Grace and Mercy
Join the Conversation:
Which of these 7 promises
spoke most to your heart today? Share in the comments below; your words might
be the encouragement another woman needs to hear.
📌 Save this post to Pinterest so
you can come back to it whenever you need a reminder of His promises.
0 Comments