Hope: When We Can Say It Is Well

+Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka

A little over a year ago, when I first heard Bethel Music’s, “It Is Well,” things in my life were going well. It seemed I was close to fulfilling a long-held dream. My health was good. I was surrounded by people who “got” me. They understood what made me tick. The song resonated. Of course it was well with my soul. I could hum it and sing it and believe it with all my heart.

It’s easy to say, “It is well with my soul” when we’re in the good times.

 

Fast forward four months . . . as I waited for a decision from someone who could move me toward that dream fulfilled . . .

. . . as my boys got testy and walked through some struggles and “boy-drama” . . .

. . . as I tore my ACL when we went skiing.

And I received a “No” instead of the “Yes” I’d hoped for.

 

When our circumstances change—when we walk through the hard—we have to choose to say, “It is well with my soul.”

How do we say these words and mean them?

 

It’s so easy to set our eyes on the circumstances happening in our lives. On past hurts that still bear pain in the present. The relationships broken or breaking. The job lost. The child rebelling. Friends turning on us. The scary diagnosis.

It’s simple to look at situations and let our spirits be stirred up in turmoil. Because these things directly affect who we are—our dreams, our hopes. They impact decisions we’re going to make.

When we focus on circumstances, our hope will always falter. And our spirits will churn.

 

As I worked through physical therapy for my knee and spiritual therapy for my heart, I kept coming back to the song. “It Is Well.” How do I keep things well with my soul when my life is filled with challenges that hurt?

We all deal with disappointments and hardships.

 

What we must remember is that God is with us in them. In the times when everything seems to go our way, we can say, “It is well,” and we mean it. We may pursue God in those times, or we may not. When things are going smoothly, we don’t feel our need for Him as strongly.

It’s when we’re in the struggles that we know our need for Him.

When the waves of this life roll over us and the wind blows hard against us . . . that’s when we yearn for something—Someone— bigger to come and still the storms in our lives, our hearts.

 

It’s in these times when we must remember who God is. He is bigger than our storms. He’s as close as our every breath. The question is will we look to Him to calm our spirits, or will we look to something else to give us hope in the storms?

Truth is, when we look for something or someone else to place our hope in, we will be disappointed. Every time.

 

There is only One who can handle the depth and the weight of our hopes, our needs.

God is with us in the easy times and in the hard times. When we choose to lean into Him, to trust Him to bring us through rather than relying on ourselves or someone else? That’s when we can honestly say, “It is well with my soul.”

 

That is where we find our hope.In God alone.

In God alone.

What about you? How do you keep your hope in God when the hard times roll over you? When have you seen God move in hard circumstances in your life?

Click to Tweet: When we focus on circumstances, our hope will always falter.

Today I’m linking up with Holly Barrett’s Testimony Tuesday and the #RaRaLinkup. Come check out other wonderful blogs!