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PINIMAGEPeople photo created by master1305 – www.freepik.com” class=”wp-image-8315″ width=”768″ height=”374″/>And when they prevailed over them, the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands, for they cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him. 1 Chronicles 5:20
Yesterday, my son texted me and said, “If I am struggling and I pray and ask God for encouragement, He will help me. Right?” He already knew the answer.
Hudson is a freshman in college, eleven hours away from us, in Louisville, KY. He has no classes on Monday. Having a day off of classes each week sounds pretty great to a student. But Hudson has found that he struggles most with anxiety and loneliness when he has extra time on his hands. Mondays are hard.
Hudson knows the answer to the question he asked me. We’ve walked through these feelings time and time again. But he’s exercising his faith. It’s like a muscle. He is learning that EVERY TIME he feels alone, God will be there. His faith is growing. Now, if he could get his emotions to follow suit.
What has been most difficult for Hudson to grasp is why God has allowed anxiety and loneliness to weigh on him when he’s asked God to take them away. He said, “Mom, isn’t it a sin to be anxious? Why won’t God make it stop?”
I was reading this morning in my quiet time from Beholding and Becoming, by Ruth Chou Simons. She was sharing the story of God’s faithfulness to Israel in the desert. She said, God had limitless options for providing food for His people, but He chose to demonstrate His provision one day at a time – no more, no less. He wanted His children to anticipate His faithfulness.
Over the past few months, I have encouraged Hudson that God IS working, that God DOES see, that God IS faithful. He’s not removing Hudson from trouble – like a genie lifting him out of the circumstances. He’s giving him strength and faith to overcome.
Friend, if you’ve walked with Jesus very long, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
I began today’s post with a passage from 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles 5 reads simply like a chronicle of encounters Israel had with their enemies, but this verse jumped out. The verse takes us into the thick of the battle where the people of God cried out to Him for help, and He granted their urgent plea because they trusted Him.
I thought about Hudson and the battle he’s been facing daily. Countless times, I’ve encouraged him to cry out to God. And I told him that God would hear and answer his urgent plea because he is putting his trust in God.
I can encourage Hudson from my own experience. God is a faithful God! But there is definitely a new dynamic in all of this for me – a mom far away, urging her child to trust God, promising He will be faithful and believing it. My faith has been tested as I let God be God in my son’s life.
Not long ago, Hudson facetimed me with a bright smile on his face. He told me God did something really cool to encourage him, and he had to tell me right away. I was eager to hear.
Hudson was having a rough day. He would probably call it the “normal routine”…fighting anxious thoughts and loneliness. That afternoon, a friend asked him for a ride to the airport, and on the way home, he was supposed to pick up a take out order from a local Japanese restaurant. He spent the time alone in the car talking to God. When he got to the restaurant, he asked to use their bathroom. He had been praying for God to encourage him and help, and to his surprise, God answered in a very unique way!
Hudson said, “Mom, look at where I found encouragement from God!”
A picture came through on my text.
PINIMAGEA bathroom urinal?? Maybe he sent the wrong picture.
I looked closer and saw the framed art precariously placed on the ledge above.
PINIMAGEI had to laugh. I was so thrilled to see God at work comforting Hudson and proving Himself faithful once again.
I told Hudson not long ago, “You need to write these things down so you can look back on all God has done. Never forget His daily provisions. And when you’re in the battle, cry out to Him with an urgent cry. He will answer because you trust Him.”
Maybe you need to hear the same thing right now. Are you in a battle? Cry out to the Lord today! Put your full trust in His faithfulness and watch Him work!
