Help Wanted

Lately, I've been feeling helpless.

• Helpless to mend the torn/broken ankle of a friend.
• Helpless to ease the grief of a friend whose daughter recently passed from this world to the next.
• Helpless to slap away erase the words of the "mean girl" to my daughter.
• Helpless to bring salvation to my husband (and other non-believers in my world).
• Helpless to make sense of the deadly, destructive tornadoes in the South.
• Helpless to build the self-esteem of my son.
• Helpless to bring jobs to my un- and under-employed friends.
• Helpless to heal the hurts of those affected by changes in our church.
• Helpless to stop the bullets from flying near my cousin (in Afghanistan).

Helpless.  But not hopeless.  Hopeful, indeed.
 

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”  2 Cor 12:9 (NLT).

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.  Psalm 33:20-22 (NLT)

The LORD is close to the broken-hearted; he rescuse those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.  2 Corinthians 4:8-10

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are[e] being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.  2 Cor. 4:16-18