Frayed? God is Holding On To You
If we hold to any ideal or person other than Christ when life doesn’t go according to plan, our cord will fray and eventually fail us. Our nerves will fray. Ask me: I can tell you from experience. When I lay in bed with a Plan B diagnosis from M.D. Anderson, I felt my emotions and nerves fraying. I couldn’t stand the thought of dying and leaving behind Taylor and Keith. Only when I grasped hold of my heavenly hope in the eternal God did my mind, heart, and spirit become settled. I held to the Christ cord, anchored in heaven. “And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You” (Ps. 39:7).
Since then, I’ve become frayed over situations with far less significance. Yet in any and all circumstances, Christ is the cord of hope that never disappoints. Any other cord—husband, child, parent, employer, employee, job, health, philosophy, church, or friend—can and will eventually disappoint us in some way.
“When we depend on others to act as we think they should, our mood is relative to that person’s performance.” |
As Oswald Chambers pointed out, not even Jesus entrusted himself to man, knowing what was in man’s heart: “‘Jesus did not commit Himself unto them . . . for He knew what was in man,’ John 2:24–25. . . . Everything is either delightful and fine, or mean and dastardly, according to our idea. . . . There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. . . Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. . . .If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone.”*
No person or thing other than Christ can fully satisfy and meet our expectations.
When we depend on others to act as we think they should, our mood is relative to that person’s performance. Instead, God directs us to hope in Him.
The next time you begin to feel discouraged, ask yourself: Have I let go of my cord of hope in Christ? Are my emotions tied to another person and dragging me down?
God offers you a cord of hope. Look up. He’s tossing it to you from heaven. Hold on. He won’t let go of His end. As a matter of fact, He not only holds the cord, He is the cord. If your fingers begin to slip, God will hold onto you. He will wrap His strong arms of love around you. He will not let go of you. You are safe. You have a hope, a heavenly cord. His name is Jesus.
Father, thank You that even when my life is unraveling and I feel frayed, I can rest assured You are holding on to me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
No person or thing other than Christ can fully satisfy and meet our expectations.
Copyright Debbie Taylor Williams, The Plan A Woman in a Plan B World: What to Do When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan
*Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest,” New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1935), 212.
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