When Your World Falls Apart

What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning? What or who do you think you cannot live without? What makes life worth living for you?

Now that you’ve answered those questions, what if that thing or person was taken away? What then? What would then motivate you to keep on living?

Would your remaining family be enough? Would your favorite hobby be enough? Would your church family be enough? Would your health and money be enough? How about your work, sports, shopping?

That’s a difficult question to answer if you haven’t had that thing or person taken from you. It’s hard to imagine life without them or it. But personally, I don’t think any of those things are enough to keep us going when it feels like our world has fallen apart.

And this hope and strength comes from Jesus!

Allow me to share Haratio Spafford’s (1828-1888)  story and how his world fell apart. He was a successful lawyer in Chicago.  He was a devout Christian man who enjoyed the friendships of Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sanky. He and his wife had a lovely home, one son, and four daughters.

Spafford and his wife, Anna, lost their young son and soon afterwards lost most of their real estate investments in the Great Chicago Fires on October 8, 1871. To help he and his family to cope with the tragedies, a family trip to Europe was planned.  Having some unexpected last minute business to take care of, Spafford sent his wife and daughters on the boat ahead of him.

 

There was a boat collision and several days later he got word from his wife, Saved alone. When he came to the spot in the ocean where it was believed his daughters perished, he penned the words to, It is Well With My Soul. That was the bottom line for him.

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26)

Could you say that, if you were in that situation?  If you don’t know Jesus or have a good relationship with Him, will you please make that a priority today? None of us know how many days we have left in this life. Life is short and unsure.

But we can have peace and hope even in these uncertain times if we know Jesus as our Savior. He is willing and waiting for you with open arms. You can’t be too bad for Him to not accept you and you can’t be good enough without Him.

 

 

I believe with all my heart that the ONLY thing or person that is truly enough in this life is Jesus Christ!  We can be lulled into thinking things or people in this life is all we need. But we all have a deep seated spot in our hearts that only Jesus can fill and satisfy.  He wants to be there for us. The question is, “Do we want Him?” If every last comfort and security is taken from the believer,  God is enough! He gives and is enough.. strength, hope, and love to be all we need in this life.

Paul told the Corinthians, Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (2 Cor. 3:5)

This is what I found when I looked up the definition of sufficient in the Webster’s Dictionary.

sufficient– enough to meet the needs of a situation or a proposed end.  ENOUGH, ADEQUATE, COMPETENT mean being what is necessary or desirable, SUFFICIENT suggests a close meeting of a need; ENOUGH is less exact in suggestion than SUFFICIENT;  ADEQUATE may imply barely meeting a requirement; COMPETENT suggests measuring up to all requirements without question or being adequately adapted to an end.

During the most difficult days of my life, the one thing that has kept me going is to believe God has a reason and purpose for giving me breath. I want to use that breath and life to fulfill His purpose for me.  I try to do something, anything to help someone every single day because I know that is what God calls every believer to do…to love others. That will last for eternity! Love never fails. It always works. It is always a good thing.

There you have it folks! God is more than adequate to meet us where we are. He made us and only He knows what we need.  And only He can fill those needs in our lives. Won’t you trust Him to do that for you today?

Keep looking up,

Gaye Hughes