Heart Thoughts from Helen

“Take heed, be quiet, fear not, nor be fainthearted,” (Isaiah 7:2)

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, blizzards, mudslides, floods, gale force winds continents away are referred to as ‘natural disasters‘.

Fiscal fiascos everywhere including unemployment, bank failures, health care push, housing market gone bonkers in what is called ‘economic downturn’ or ‘recession’. We could call them ‘un-natural disasters’.

Elected officials at each other’s throats; backbiting while smiling simultaneously. They promise things they do not or cannot provide. Tea parties in the name of citizen revolt labeled ‘political unrest’. YA THINK!!!???

Wars in Afghanistan, troops still in Iraq, rumors of wars everywhere it seems. Unrest here, assassinations there. Braggadocios dictators ranting and raving.

Just that is enough to make us all tremble in terror or attack in anger at the state of the world. And that doesn’t even begin to mention the universal unrest and rumors of nuclear warheads wiping Israel off the face of the map as well as the United States. How in the world did the United States of America come to be called “The Great Satan”?

What about our battles on a more local level? I just read the book, STAYING TRUE, by our state’s first lady, Jenny Sanford. While the whole world rocks and rolls with the punches, the heads of state and their families undergo their own personal purgatory. And our state isn’t the only suffering state in that regard. Staying true remains a constant struggle for those in the political arena as well as those of us who are among the rank and file. Spiritual stamina strikes a shockingly loud cymbal crash when all else fails.

Locally, rains, snows, floods, families unemployed, children exploited, divorce, the guilty rich go free while the poor pay their dues in jail.

Nursing home patients sit/lie in wheelchairs, staring with unseeing eyes at the hallway hubbub. Hospital corridors winding around and around in a maze of misery for patients and visitors all waiting for some good news.

All this isn’t really new, you know. In the days of Isaiah, the same issues with slightly different twists took place in a far away part of the world that has huge implications for the worldwide community. Just when all seems lost and impossible and unbearable, the LORD God Almighty comes forth and speaks. In this instance, through His prophet, Isaiah: “If you will not believe, you surely shall not last”. But just prior to that He gives us some pertinent instructions:

• Take care
• Be calm
• Have no fear
• Do not be fainthearted

Is that a message for us today? Personally, I take it to heart and am reminded daily to implant it on my brain, carry it in my heart, and share it with whomever will listen.

I choose to believe!!! And because I believe I will last throughout eternity with the LORD God Almighty, because He says so!

In light of that fact, I attempt to ‘take care, be calm, have no fear, and not be fainthearted’, no matter the natural disasters, political unrest, economic downfall or personal failures and defeats, bad health, death and taxes. Our God Reigns!

And…”my life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3) ALLELUIAH!