Dear Harvest Church Family,
We titled the episode "Standing Firm Through the Hard Times", because let’s face it: life isn’t always easy. Difficult seasons are a reality. All of us, at some point, face moments of pain, loss, disappointment, or silence. These seasons are not easy, and they often come without warning. Maybe you’re in one right now. If so, I want to speak directly to your heart: you are not alone, and God has not forgotten you. Sometimes
hardship comes as part of life in a broken world. Other times, we’re walking
through the consequences of our own choices. But whatever the cause, whether
it’s a trial God is using to shape us, or a result of our own decisions, the
invitation is the same: run to the Lord, not away from Him. His heart is
open, even when yours is hurting. You don’t need to be “better” before coming
to Him. You just need to come. In
moments like these, our emotions can be overwhelming. They tell us we’ve
failed, or that God is silent, or that things will never change. But our hope
isn’t in what we feel, it’s in what we know to be true. And what is true
never changes: God’s character is unshakable. His faithfulness is constant. “But now, this is what the Lord says— When you pass through the waters, That
promise is personal. God doesn’t say if you go through the fire, He says
when. And when you do, He will be with you. The waters won’t
overwhelm you. The fire won’t consume you. Why? Because you belong to Him.
Your pain doesn’t have the final word, your identity in Christ does. And
it doesn’t stop there. Psalm 84:6 gives us another powerful promise: “As they pass through the Valley of Baka (the valley of
tears) Only
God can take a valley of sorrow and turn it into a well of life. He can use the
most painful places to draw us closer to His presence and to bring healing, not
just to us, but to others through us. What feels like the end may be the
beginning of something deeper. But
what do we do while we wait? When nothing is changing yet? When answers haven’t
come? That’s when we anchor ourselves in who God is, not in how we feel. We
choose, by faith, to believe in His goodness. And
this is where I want to invite you into a declaration. One that I’ve returned
to many times in my own life. A declaration not based on circumstances, but on
truth: “Though the fig tree does not bud yet I will rejoice in the Lord, The Sovereign Lord is my strength; Habakkuk
3:17–19 (NIV)
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