Author: Karla Lees

🎼I AM NOT ALONE – KARI JOBE

“When I walk through deep waters, I know that You will be with me. When I’m standing in the fire I will not be overcome. Through the valley of the shadow I will not fear.

CHORUS: I am not alone, I am not alone. You will go before me, You will never leave me. x2

In the midst of deep sorrow I see Your light is breaking through. The dark of night will not overtake me, I am pressing into You. Lord, You fight my every battle and I will not fear.

Repeat Chorus Twice

You amaze me, redeem me. You call me as Your own. X2

You’re my strength, You’re my defender. You’re my refuge in the storm. Through these trials You’ve always been faithful, You bring healing to my soul.

Repeat Chorus 3x to end.”

🎵LISTEN & WATCH HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfveawSAHJA

#hopefortheharddays #heretohelp

💙LONELINESS. Something you can experience both on your own, and in the midst of a crowd. Loneliness is an emotional condition, heightened by real or perceived situations where we feel alone.

I’ve felt lonely in the middle of church, in a gathering of gal pals, and at home during COVID lockdown. I have found that I usually feel lonely when I become isolated from others, whether not included in an activity because I wasn’t invited, or I am too caught up in my own thoughts & feelings. Maybe you can relate.

I know Jesus gets where I am coming from, for you can’t go into the desert for 40 days & nights after living in community and not experience the feeling of loneliness. Even in His group of followers, not everyone got His message as to who He was & where He was headed. Feeling the full weight of loneliness for the first time through the separation from His Father when Jesus was fully weighed down with our sin.

💙”Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” (Psalm 25:16)

Psalm 25:16 gives us some insight into why we experience loneliness – it is an affliction of mind, felt deeply by our senses. And the next verse highlights the emotional aspect so well:

💙”Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.” (Psalm 25:17)

Loneliness can be quite painful, overwhelming, and very isolating.

This week, I’ll share some tips on how to battle loneliness on our journey, together.

#hopefortheharddays

As I write this post today, a new part of my heart is freshly broken, as I watch another loved one deal with daily pain.

Brokenness has been a theme in my life. The loss is innocence at the hand of an adult while I was a child. Public betrayal and cruelty by friends in public school. That first heart break of lost love. The miscarriage I had three months after our honeymoon. Loss of beloved pets. Friendships which were suddenly lost in hard seasons. Having to leave a job I loved due to terrible management.

Jesus can relate. The Bible tells us that Jesus wept over the loss of Lazarus, before He arrived to raise him from the dead. The betrayal of Judas must have stung something fierce, yet He only showed love in response. The very tribe of people God called His own chose to save a murderer vs their Messiah from death row and public humiliation by painful flogging & an agonizing death displayed on the cross.

He hears the cries of the broken because He knows what it feels like to experience brokenness. He has been there. And He answers each cry – whether a word of comfort, an embrace, a helping hand of provision, the support of one He has sent to assist – because He always comes to the rescue of those He loves.

When a close relative committed suicide, Jesus walked along side us as we helped the devastated spouse left behind while grieving the loss of their presence in our lives.

When I miscarried, Jesus brought a mentor to me to help me sort out my emotions and grieve, yet I still feel the loss of what could have been 30 years later.

I used to be protective of my brokenness, keeping it hidden from display and discussion. Until it became apparent to me that God uses the wholly available, not those who are whole.

I am stronger after the brokenness than I ever could be without it. For I know Who walks with me, moment by moment, through everything I face – good, bad, ugly, sad, joyous, painful, hopeful – despite my broken pieces.

God continues to make beautiful things out of the dust of our loss & brokenness. The scars remain in my Story as a testimony to His faithfulness, and how His Story is intermingled with mine.

#hopefortheharddays
#hopeinHisPresence

Last week was rough. God brought me face to face with a characteristic from my past I thought I had permanently laid down at His feet. It was painful, disappointing yet freeing once I allowed Him to minister to me in that place of brokenness.

Last week was great. I experienced a deeper sense of His love for me, grasped a new appreciation for obedience, heard His voice in a fresh way, and savored some super sweet moments during worship.

This week, let me inhale all You have for me up ahead, Abba….and exhale all my past hurts, disappointments and failures as I kneel in Your Presence.

For You have proved Yourself solid, faithful and true over and over again – and I can continuously trust You to catch me when I fall, love me through my pain and use me despite my brokenness.

#hopefortheharddays

#hopeinHisPresence

❄️Snow. I love how it covers all it touches, one small snowflake at a time. Usually gentle in its arrival, leaving a fresh white coat over everything. It doesn’t choose to fall on one tree and not another, but equally covers them all. Its soothing cool calms the earth, and helps it to grow in the coming spring.

Chatting about what snow is reminding me of this week. Hope it won’t be too heavy, but a blessing to y’all. 💙

As I was praying this morning, the lyrics of this song came to mind. Because on those hardest of days, knowing someone has not only got your back but is holding you tight through the storm about you? #priceless 💙

🫂JUST BE HELD by Casting Crowns

🎶”Hold it all together, everybody needs you strong. But life hits you out of nowhere and barely leaves you holding on. And when you’re tired of fighting chained by your control.There’s freedom in surrender – lay it down and let it go.

{CHORUS} So when you’re on your knees and answers seem so far away? You’re not alone, stop holding on and just be held. Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place. I’m on the throne, stop holding on and just be held. Just be held, just be held.

If your eyes are on the storm,
you’ll wonder if I love you still.
But if your eyes are on the cross, You’ll know I always have and I always will. And not a tear is wasted. In time, you’ll understand I’m painting beauty with the ashes, Your life is in My hands…

{REPEAT CHORUS}

Lift your hands, lift your eyes.
In the storm is where you’ll find Me. And where you are, I’ll hold your heart, I’ll hold your heart.
Come to Me, find your rest in the arms of the God who won’t let go.

{REPEAT CHORUS}

🫂Just be held.🎶

🎥LISTEN & WATCH HERE:
https://youtu.be/tIZitK6_IMQ

#sharingHope #hopefortheharddays #HopeinHisPresence

➡️VERSES TO HOLD ONTO ON THE HARDER DAYS

💙”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)

💙We may weep through the night, but at daybreak it will turn into shouts of ecstatic joy. (Psalm 30:5b)

💙The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

💙Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:6)

💙Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

💙The Lord your God is in your midst—a warrior bringing victory. He will create calm with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

👉What verse do you hold onto to remember He is with you, for you, & bringing His plan for your good to pass?

#sharingHope
#HopeinHisPresence

🎶”Everything happens for a reason. But you don’t know what you don’t know and you’ll never have peace if you don’t let go of tomorrow. ‘Cause it ain’t even faith till your plan falls apart but you still choose to follow, If it doesn’t make sense right now, it will when it’s over.

(Chorus) There will be joy in the morning. There will be joy in the morning.

Giving in to your feelings is like drowning in the shadows Oh, you gotta keep believing even in the middle of the unknown. ‘Cause grace will be there when you come to the end of your rope and you let go .It may feel like you’re goin’ down now but the story isn’t over.

Repeat Chorus: There will be joy in the morning. There will be joy in the morning.

If it’s not good, then He’s not done. No, He’s not done with it yet.

There will be joy in the morning!🎶

💙JOY IN THE MORNING this version by Tauren Wells & Elevation Worship

➡️Listen & Watch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7UrjZaoUSY

#singanewpsalm #worshipHymn
#HopeinHisPresence

#HopeinHisPresence

🌿”I hold on to the hope that all this falling apart will soon become falling into place.”
– Sabina Laura

I shared last week about how I recently missed the opportunity in the moment to shift the atmosphere until the next morning.

What I didn’t realize until this morning was that I had picked up a spirit of heaviness from that situation, and agreed with it that night.  So when I shifted the atmosphere in the car over my family & I, I didn’t realize that that heaviness remained.

It wasn’t until this past Sunday morning during worship that that weight was broken off of me, and I immediately felt lighter and brighter again.

I still have a lot on my plate, but I was reassured through this morning’s devotion that the Mighty One lives within me, as He does in each of His daughters & sons. And as a result, I am able to, in a split second or the length of a thought, immediately invite God into any situation.

🙏Thank You God for being the Hope that restores. Even when we can’t see what is really going on, You do. You know that in Your timing, my freedom will come to pass when I am in a situation where I can’t see the Light for the darkness about me, as long as I invite You into it.

#HopeinHisPresence