073 Hope in a Crisis with Ashlee Proffitt

If you listened to the previous episode, Episode #72, you know that I had planned for this month to be all about what it’s like to return to work after experiencing loss. I scheduled all the guests. I recorded all the interviews. I created all the resources. Months ago. And then just as this series was beginning, our world was slammed with a pandemic of unthinkable scope and repercussions -- we are seeing sickness and disease like nothing we have ever seen before. We are being strongly urged to “stay home” and self quarantine to limit the spread of the disease -- thus making my “Return to Work” series not very timely, applicable or even necessarily helpful when we are facing a crisis. The topic is still valuable and the interviews will be incredibly helpful at some point in the future -- but right now we need something a bit more. So while this episode is a bit different than our normal interview style, I pray that it will be incredibly helpful and hopeful for you today

We need a reminder of truth and hope and comfort. We need to know that while it doesn’t seem to be true, that God is in fact in control. We need to be reminded that even though we can’t possibly understand why a good God would allow such death and such loss on such a grand scale, it doesn’t mean that He doesn’t care or that He isn’t working or that He’s surprised or that He isn’t good. 

If you are like me, I imagine your heart feels anxious. Your faith feels wobbly. Your doubts about God’s character, about His goodness, about His love for you, may be screaming louder than ever. If you are like me, your mind is distracted and your heart just feels heavy as you consider how impossible this situation seems to be. 

We know that settling an anxious heart, strengthening our faith and quieting those doubts can only come from one place. We know that finding hope and joy and peace in the midst of crisis and tragedy and moments of confusion can only come from one source and yet if you are like me, going to that source-- God’s Word and opening it up and sitting in it,  in a moment like this can feel impossible. 

So I wanted to spend this podcast episode simply reading a few of my favorite passages of scripture over you. No commentaries or my own thoughts to muddy the waters. Just God’s Word. I believe Hebrews 4 to be true when it says that the word of God “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” So today’s episode is a little different than most but my hope is that His Word alone would remind all of us who God is -- how He loves deeply, how He is working even when we may not be able to see it with our own eyes, how He is in control and how because of all of those things our hearts can be filled with peace even amidst uncertainty. 

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