Discuss: 1) Describe a time when you felt hopeless. 2) Describe a time when, despite your circumstances, you had hope from the Lord. 3) Thank God for His unfailing love. If you are in a challenging spot right now, boldly ask for His sustaining hope.
Knowing Him 50: Obedient Leadership
Introduction Peter leads a large group of disciples to an isolated (perhaps secretive) meeting where Jesus will once again give them their marching orders. Then they make their way back to Jerusalem to await the coming Holy Spirit as the movement switches into its...
(from Brian)
I felt hopeless a few years ago due to missing a crucial deadline at work. I wasn’t able to face the music and hid the mistake from my bosses and clients. This ate me up inside but I was so afraid and ashamed thar instead of finding solutions; I just avoided and ignored it hoping that it would magically go away. At the root of it all; i realized that my job and pride were my idols.
I prayed fervently during this time and I wouldn’t know where I would be without Jesus. He was the only one who was able to comfort me. I had to pray and reminded myself that my identity was in Jesus and not my job and that I had to own up to it bc that was the right thing to do. In the end, it turned out that there was a remedy for the missed deadline and the crisis was averted.
Father, thanking you for your unfailing love. It seems no matter how hard life gets, you’re ALWAYS there to love and carry me. I have failed you so many times but You have not failed me once. I will always praise you through good and tough times. Help me to always be rooted in you and that I find my identity in you. Father as I age, I’ve noticed a decline in my stress coping abilities. In these moments, i will draw nearer to you as you are my rock and refuge.
(Danny)
Like I have previously mention this recently, the only time I felt hopeless is when my Dad was in the emergency in Vietnam, I started breaking down because I didn’t know what to do at this point. It happen during the school year when I was in High School, I told all my teacher with the situation I am dealing with and they understood without causing any trouble for not finishing school work. It was a difficult time when I have to go places to get my passport done and it take a long progress which caused me to stress and sad. As soon I got my passport ready, we book a flight to Vietnam to check up on my Dad to see if everything okay. As I was praying during my flight, I hope that the Lord is giving my Dad strength and healing while I am trying my best to get to him. During many hours of arriving there, I rush to check up on my Dad that was staying at his brother home, and I cried so much because he look so unhealthy and not feeling in the greatest state. But then my Dad told me to calm down and knowing everything will be okay as long I am here for him and giving him momentum support. I want to thank/pray to God for sticking around and giving the power of strength that we needed the most.
From Calvin:
1. There was a time, a moment where I felt some sudden despair and anxiety. It was during my wife’s brain surgery. We had only been married for a little over a year when she started having major headaches. We went to a neurosurgeon and found out she had benign meningioma tumors. It was rare for someone so young to get them (most develop in women in their 50’s and 60’s). But the doctor recommended we operate and remove them to avoid complications later in life. And he was very confident that the surgery would be fine since my wife was young. But on the day of the surgery, after the procedure had gone on for a bit longer than we had anticipated, I started to feel a little scared. Even though I tried not to think the worst, there was a fleeting moment of despair and hopelessness because there was nothing I could do to help my wife should the worst happen.
2. I mentioned this yesterday. But when my wife and I got scammed on a kitchen remodeling project, I actually felt a strong sense of hope that we would recover. I was just counting my blessings that the damage to our home and finances weren’t worse, and I quickly realized how lucky we were to have a strong support system in our family and church friends. And the silver lining in all this, I believe, is that it caused my wife and I to have better communication with our finances. We also made a friend of the contractor who rescued our project, and we continue to hire him for our projects to this day.
3. Thank you God for the many blessings in my life, the ones that are both apparent and unapparent to me. I thank you for helping me to grow from the challenges and obstacles I’ve faced in my life. I hope I have the wisdom and strength to grow from any future turmoil I may face, and to come to realize that they are opportunities to grow closer to You.
A time when I felt hopeless was a couple of months ago when my mom had a stroke. It was scary because it happened out of nowhere. What’s worse was she was in Vietnam while I was here so I couldn’t really take care of her. All I could do was wait for my brother to tell me what was going on and how was her condition. It was a very dark 2 days for me as I was lost and very anxious
But then I prayed to God, and for some reason, I started to have hope in the Lord. Knowing God is a healer and a comforter, all I could do was put my faith and trust in whatever plans he has for me. So I did and luckily she survived. God really helped me through that time as I experienced the power of the Lord working.
Lord, thank you for your unfailing love. Even amid uncertainty and hardship, your love never fails and never gives up on me. You’re the only one that I can come to, as you are always there for me in my tough time.
Christine
1) Describe a time when you felt hopeless.
When Dean’s dad and I were separating. I remember there was a time I wanted to see Dean so badly but they wouldn’t let me see him. It was very heartbreaking but at the same time it was my fault too. There was another time I think Dean was around 2-3 years old he got really sick and his fever wouldn’t go down after giving him meds. I knew something was wrong and took him to ER and they said he had a blood infection and if I waited any longer there was a chance he could’ve have leukemia. It was really scary.
2) Describe a time when, despite your circumstances, you had hope from the Lord.
I’m grateful that I’m a single mom. I don’t make a lot of money. I don’t really get much help financially from Joey. God has been so good to me. For some reason, I’m always able to make ends meet by Gods mercy and grace.
3) Thank God for His unfailing love. If you are in a challenging spot right now, boldly ask for His sustaining hope.
Oh Heavenly Father, thank you for providing for my kids and somehow someway you always take such good care of me to be able to provide them the best that I can. Lord, I pray that you will open doors and opportunities this year as Joshua is getting older. I pray that I am financially stable to be able to get us our own place. Please continue to provide a healthy and safe home for us lord. I pray that you continue to guide me and show me your ways. In Jesus name I pray amen
From Cyndi “When I had to quit one of my job abruptly due to a conflict of interest situation and couldn’t work in OC county and I had to look for a new job in LA county. That was tough. It took me a few months to land on a job. Waiting was hard, but I prayed and trusted that God will open a door for me. It all worked out, Eric also got a job in LA county so we both went through it together.
I love what it says in the reading today. “Our hope comes from knowing however difficult our circumstances may be, we can trust God because he is in control. Hope not in our circumstances, not in other people, not in things ultimately going our way, but hope in our Heavenly Father whose infailkng love sustains us”.
Dear God, I know there will always be hardships, trials and challenges that I will continue to face, please continue to sustain me and help me to remember your Goodness, your unfailing love for me, and to come to you for peace, comfort, and strength. You always have my back! Thank you!! Amen.”
I think a time when I feel hopeless is right now. I have a lot of big things that could work if the smaller things work. This is all God willing though and I just feel pretty hopeless about it because I just feel like time is against me. I do have hope in the lord though and that he will deliver me from all this stress and hopelessness I feel. Though I know one outcome will feel terrible I still have hope. Thank you Lord for helping me turn my eyes to you in this season of life.
1) Describe a time when you felt hopeless.
The time I felt hopeless was when I failed the junior high school entrance exam. I had started studying for that in the fourth grade of elementary school. In Japan, it is generally possible to enter junior high school without taking an exam. However, I wanted to enter a junior high school that required an exam, so I gave up playing with my friends and decided to study at a cram school. It was really tough for me as an elementary school student to quit playing with my friends, but I gave it up in order to enter that school. I worked really hard and was sure that I would pass the exam, so when I saw the result that I had failed, I really felt hopeless.
2) Describe a time when, despite your situation, you had hope from the Lord.
As I mentioned earlier, one week after receiving the notification of rejection, I received a report of an advanced acceptance. I felt this as hope.
3) Thank God for His unfailing love. If you are in a difficult place right now, boldly seek His sustaining hope.
Dear God, thank you for growing me in your unfailing love. I am in a difficult place again, but I pray that my faith in you will lead me to my hope.
I have felt hopeless when I was in grad school. Continually getting my dissertation sent back with revision knowing each revision cycle was three weeks was pretty discouraging. I had hope from the Lord despite circumstances when Emma was just born. The waking up every two hours was exhausting, especially when I went back to work, but despite that, the Lord instilled a lot of hope in us through our community and each other.
Thank you Lord for your unfailing love, where despite uncertainty, I can hope in you. I ask for your sustaining hope in difficult circumstances.
1. When my dad was released from his position as a senior pastor, I was hopeless. I thought the news of it wasn’t going to affect me as much, but it did. It broke me hard. I lost hope in the church, and I almost lost hope in God. For the longest time, I was bitter at GLA, and bitter at everyone else. I couldn’t believe that I was gonna be church-less because growing up, all I knew was going to church and reading the Bible, and for a couple of weeks, that bitterness and hopelessness spread like a parasite.
2. It was a week after Thanksgiving break when I truly felt at peace and I found hope in the Lord again. I began to know what it means to seek the Lord in silence. Because in my life that time, there was no silence, and I could not really feel at peace, but Diesel talked about how being in silence could help you stay closer to God, and it helped. With that silence, I was able to set aside the distractions and I was able to bring all my bitterness and hopelessness to God, and for the first time, I was at peace.
3. God, Thank You for all of the times You have not given up on me even when I almost gave up on You. Thank You for providing me with a community like Cru filled with leaders like Brandt and Diesel. Thank You for helping me know what it means to seek You in silence. You have been there for me all along even when it seems like You’re absent, but You are there with me through my struggle and my success. Thank You for the opportunity to be with the family I have at Cru, and the opportunity to go to RP this year. I pray in Jesus Name, Amen.
1) After an argument with my wife, my son, Chris, ran away. When we were up in the morning, we couldn’t find him anywhere. I have never felt so helpless, thinking about all the worst case scenarios. I was desperate and hopeless, afraid that I would never see my son ever again.
2) I prayed to God earnestly and desperately, willing to trade my life for my son. But then remembered the story of Abraham and Isaac, and somehow I knew that everything will be ok because God is sovereign. We found out later that he went to a neighbor’s house, a few miles away. The neighbor informed us so we are not worried sick anymore. Chris came home a few days later.
3) God, time and time again, You have been faithful to me and my family, and I’m grateful for Your amazing love.