WHEN HOPE FADES

I want to share someone’s testimony with you today in the hope that if you or someone you know is losing faith or hope in any situation, this will help. It’s the testimony of a woman we’ll call Sharon, who in the midst of her despair, decided to commit suicide. When she leapt to her death, instead of falling into the water as she jumped from a bridge (100 feet high), she fell into the hands of God.

Sharon had lived in a lot of pain in the past years. She felt as though she had plunged headlong into gross darkness and regardless of the amount of time she spent in prayer or the number of times she was prayed for, she could not penetrate the darkness and get back into the light.

Millions of Christians live in despair and darkness. There are as many ways that they have come through as there are attributes of God. But one thing Sharon says she learned is this: if you hang on, no matter how bad things get, God will see you through.

This is her story. The morning she tried to kill herself, she drove across this bridge that is 100 feet above the water. She parked, got out her Bible and ran her hand across the cover for the last time. She didn’t feel brave or determined. Just desperate to find a way out of the pain. As she jumped from the bridge, no thoughts invaded her mind. Her body hit the water and instead of being knocked unconscious, she remained alert. She floated in the cold water for an hour, tossed by the current, but fully aware of what was happening. When the police finally saw her body in the water, it had been an hour since she had jumped.




Hypothermia had set in, but instead of being out of her mind, she felt the strong hand of God around her. The medical team wrapped her in warming blankets and whisked her off to the nearest hospital. Still fully conscious, she remembers every step that took her from the bridge to her hospital room.

When J.B. Stoney said, “When we have nothing, we can trust the Lord for everything”, he wasn’t referring to only a lack of something. We can only trust God fully to the extent that we allow ourselves to trust Him. We can trust Him for healing in part or in whole. We can trust God for financial breakthroughs in part or in whole. We can trust Him for breakthroughs in any area in part or in whole; even to answer prayer in part or in whole.  In your area, do you trust God fully, or is part of you waiting for someone to come bail you out?

Someone once said to me that since they had lost their job and had spent all the money in their savings account, they were in a place where God alone could come through for their finances.  No more could they trust in that savings account or credit card.  Then they thought, “But what if I had trusted Him fully for it before I maxed out my card or spent my savings?”  God doesn’t require us to lose all before we can learn to trust Him for all.

Today, this woman has victory and peace in her heart, but it isn’t there because she jumped off a bridge.  It is there in spite of the fact that she jumped. God will always come through. He is not waiting for you to die in order to resurrect you.  He is only waiting for you to quit struggling.
BE STILL TODAY. KNOW THAT YOUR GOD IS THE LORD OF ALL CREATION.  He is the one who formed you in your mother’s womb at the time that you were so that you would be here, living in this world at this time reading this. There is no mistake made in heaven. There is not anxiety in God.

WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING, NO WAY OUT OF THE SITUATION YOU ARE IN, you are in a place called THE FOOTHILLS TO THE PROMISE LAND.  GOD IS COMING.  THE DAWN IS GOING TO BREAK.  Trust in the Lord and know that He sees the sparrows that have fallen from the sky.  He knows the exact number of hairs that fell out of your head in the shower. He keeps count of the smallest details.

Knowing that gives me great assurance. If He sees the birds, He sees them over my house. If He is counting hairs on my head, He knows the issues that are bigger than what I can handle. And He will, if I will stop struggling and trust Him to come carry me to the foothills…even though I have seen Him carry some people who are still wriggling about in His arms.

DO YOU NEED A BREAKTHROUGH?  A MIRACLE?   A RESTORATION OF SOME KIND?  Only God can do it, but He isn’t requiring that you lose all before you gain from Him. All He needs is for you to lift your hands and let Him carry you for a while.  The struggle can end for you today.