Hope and Healing

When all hope is gone and wondering where to turn

Psalm 42:3-11

3 My tears have been my food

day and night,

while people say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

4 These things I remember

as I pour out my soul:

how I used to go to the house of God

under the protection of the Mighty One

with shouts of joy and praise

among the festive throng.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God.

6 My soul is downcast within me;

therefore I will remember you

from the land of the Jordan,

the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep

in the roar of your waterfalls;

all your waves and breakers

have swept over me.

8 By day the Lord directs his love,

at night his song is with me—

a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I go about mourning,

oppressed by the enemy?”

10 My bones suffer mortal agony

as my foes taunt me,

saying to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God.

When your burden feels heavy and you need to know someone wants to help and cares

1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

When you feel powerless 

2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

When you don’t understand God

Isaiah 55:8‐9

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord. 

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, 

so are my ways higher than your ways 

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

When wondering about the purpose of grief and if you will ever have the resources for 

helping yourself again, let alone others

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ,so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

In looking at the past and to the future, may you find comfort in Jesus’ words

John 14:27 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

When wondering if joy will ever return

Jeremiah 31:13

I will turn their mourning into gladness;

I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

When you feel you just can’t go on

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever. 

Isaiah 40:29 

He gives strength to the weary 

and increases the power of the weak. 

Hebrews 10:23 

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

When you feel you just can’t withstand another moment of grief

Isaiah 43:2-5

2 When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

3 For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

I give Egypt for your ransom,

Cush and Seba in your stead.

4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,

and because I love you,

I will give people in exchange for you,

nations in exchange for your life.

5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;