Drained. Sapped. Empty. Whatever adjective you’d like to use…the message is the same—we’re running on empty. We find ourselves depleted of hope because life just isn’t meeting our expectations. We’ve exhausted ourselves seemingly to the point of no return. In our efforts to “press in” and “press on,” we seek God, yet we find our faith is debilitated because we simply haven’t been filling our time with His presence. When we cry out, “Where is God?” we find that He is there…He’s been there all along…it’s where we’ve been that’s the begging question.

Life is able turn in an instant. We can be filled with joy and peace one moment, only to be consumed with deep sorrow and despair in the next. We can find ourselves in a position before God where we’re too discouraged to kneel in prayer, much less lift our hands in praise. (Psalm 38:13-14 NIV) Our spirit becomes so vacant that we simply have nothing to say. We’re desperate to be filled; to have the joy that comes from unwavering faith, the peace that comes from trusting in a loving sovereign God, and the rest that comes from knowing that God is with us always. In the darkest valleys of life, we cling to our faith with little hope. Read the rest of this entry »

by Cherie Hill

Okay, so maybe Chicken Little got it wrong, but for many of us facing unthinkable circumstances…our sky is falling! It becomes increasingly difficult to stand firm in our faith when the very ground we’re standing on is shaking and the expectations for our lives are crumbling down around us. It’s not long before disillusionment and disappointment set in which begins to breed bitterness and resentment. As the “sky falls,” we look up at it…wondering, “Where is God in all of this?”

As our spirit begs for answers from a God who seems so silent, we’re faced with many choices in our times of despair. We can run around franticly yelling, “The sky is falling,” or we can run helplessly into the arms of the “Maker of the skies.” God’s Word tells us to do four things when we’re consumed with hopelessness and despair.

1) Turn to God. (Immediately!) How much peace have we forfeited and how much unnecessary pain have we endured…all because we fail to run immediately to the throne of God? Psalm 23 tells us that God is our source of strength in the valleys. We may not understand why God has allowed us to encounter our trials, but He has promised to use whatever pain and suffering you are enduring for your good and His glory! (Romans 8:28-29) Read the rest of this entry »

by Cherie Hill

A New Year brings the overwhelming anticipation of things to come; all of us will experience joys as well as sorrows. (We’ve been assured that “troubles” will come. John 16:33) But, in our tragedies as well as our triumphs, we tend to forget that we don’t need a “New Year” to give us a fresh start! Our God is faithful and He has given us the dawn of every morning as a sign that EVERY DAY is a NEW day!

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. (Lamentations 2:22-23 NLT)

Each night we have the opportunity to reflect on our day and grasp hold of the grace that is being prepared for the day ahead. Each day we are to reflect on our relationship with God and humbly ask Him to search our hearts so that we walk the path which leads to a life that is secured in His hands. Read the rest of this entry »

by Cherie Hill

On that magnificent night, so long ago,

Christ our Savior was born into this world.

Yet, there was no room for Him.

“She gave birth to her first child, a Son.

She wrapped Him snugly in strips of cloth and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room.”

Luke 2:7 (NLT)

There was no room on the earth that Christ came to save.

He not only brought hope, love, and peace to all mankind,

but gave us eternal life by dying in our place.

Yet, daily, we find ourselves saying, “There is no room.”

Read the rest of this entry »

by Cherie Hill

In an effort to attempt to illustrate the importance of sharing with those having less than we have, the pastor asked all the children to come in front and sit in the front pew on both sides of the church. Then, he began to hand out a few M&M’s to the children on one side and none to the children on the other side. After doing so, He stepped back and asked if they noticed anything wrong. One child, on the side with the candy, stood up and pointed to the child next to him and said “Yeah, you gave him three and only gave me two!”

Too often, we find ourselves focusing on what we “don’t” have instead of what we “do” have. We fail to focus on the ways that we can share what we have with others. Giving to others and sharing what God has given to us glorifies Him. It’s magnifying Him, instead of magnifying OUR needs… that makes Him smile. Read the rest of this entry »

Worry woke up, startled at 2:30 am. She thought she heard a noise downstairs and couldn’t remember if she’d locked all the doors earlier that night. Panic set in, as Worry had to wrestle out of the covers and venture the house on her own; her husband was out of town. Worry made it around the house, overcome with fear of the unknowns that lurked behind every corner— she realized that all was well and made it back up to bed.

But, just as Worry had settled back in, she recalled she hadn’t checked on the kids, so Worry made it down the hall, desperate to hear them breathing peacefully—her littlest one had epilepsy and Worry constantly thought of the worst. Worry couldn’t imagine life without her precious child and too often it stole her joy in the moment. Worry tirelessly crawled back into bed and laid still, staring at the ceiling.

Worry couldn’t go back to sleep. Worry’s mind wrestled with why her husband hadn’t called that night and why he seemed so distant lately. As one thought exited, another one entered, and she realized she had not heard back from her doctor on the biopsy of a lump that she had found. Worry tried, endlessly, to stop the thoughts from bombarding her mind so that she could get some sleep, but nothing worked. Read the rest of this entry »

by Cherie Hill

Let’s face it, we don’t have life figured out…we never will. We tend to give into the seemingly sad truth that “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” As the waves of doubt and despair come crashing in, we desperately look for God in the raging storms of life. But, just like the Disciples, all we see are ghosts—we fail to see Jesus. In that instant of gripping fear, Jesus is revealing Himself as our Savior in our storms of life.

“The Lord rules over the flood waters. The Lord reigns as king forever.” Psalm 29:10 (NLT)

If you think that God has allowed your life to become a raging storm, you may be right. In fact, He may have ordered up the very storm you’re facing. In Matthew 14, it says that Jesus “made” the Disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side. Surely He knew they would face the treacherous storm. He knew alright…and He knew the miracle that was in store for them as well.

As the storm raged, Jesus came to them…walking upon the water. Yet, not one of the Disciples recognized Him; they thought He was a ghost. Not once did they stop to think that Jesus was the one who sent them on the mission in the first place and that they were at the center of His will. They failed to see that they had never left His sight. They never “expected” Jesus to be with them, or even near them in this storm, but He was and He came to them…walking upon the water. That was certainly MORE than unexpected. And what is even more shocking is that if we go back seven Chapters in Matthew, we find that Jesus had already calmed a storm for them! Didn’t they get it the first time? The difference was that in this storm Jesus wanted them to learn to trust in Him, even when they couldn’t “see” Him or recognize Him in their circumstances. He wants us to trust that He is there…in the midst of it all…and He is mighty to save. Read the rest of this entry »

by Cherie Hill

In times of great uncertainty, when despair rages within us, we find ourselves living life bound by this world and our spirit struggles to be set free from the chains that bind us. Our prayers bombard the heavens and it seems as though the chains only become heavier as we plead for God’s help and mercy. But, what we find is that we are only bound because our faith has failed in the face of fear. If we are focused upon the things of “this world” and we aren’t continually surrendering every area of our lives to Almighty God… we are a sitting target. When we’re facing the burdens of this life and we’re overwhelmed with the impossibilities, we must look at our faith. When our eyes are fixed upon God and our faith is grounded in Him, we are free.

Whatever it is that holds you captive and keeps you bound is the thing that God will use to show you His glory. Each obstacle you face in life is your opportunity to step forward in your faith in God. It is your chance to pass a test; declaring that your faith in God will not be moved. In your brokenness and weakest moment, God is asking you to pay the price for the freedom He offers; freedom does not come without a price. We must die to self. Those emotions of doubt and despair, causing you to constantly feel trapped, are the enemy’s tools; there’s a barrier being built between you and God. The enemy’s desire is to get the best of you. He wants you living in fear; the defeated life. Read the rest of this entry »

by Cherie Hill

With all the struggles we face in a day, it’s evident that we need a little help. “Help” has a lot of meanings. Help means to give assistance or support to, to make more pleasant or bearable, and to change for the better. Help is also defined as rescuing or saving. At some point in our lives, we need rescuing and saving; but too often, our situations are impossible through human resources alone, we need God. Only He can do the impossible. We need the Maker of the heavens and the earth to intervene in our situations to assist us, support us, to make things more pleasant and bearable, and change things for the better. We need to be saved by God.

“I look up to the mountains- does my help come from there? My help comes for the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth!”  Psalm 121:1-2 (NLT) Read the rest of this entry »

by Cherie Hill

We’ve all heard, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Growing up…we might have even truly believed that saying. But as we grow older, we discover that we would actually prefer the sticks and stones…broken bones heal. The fact of the matter is that words hurt, and sometimes they cut deep enough to leave permanent scars. Before we know it, the root of bitterness and anger take hold and we find ourselves wrestling with how to bring justice to our suffering.

At times, there are people in our lives that we just stop praying for; we’ve all done it at some time or other, maybe without really realizing it. We beg God to have mercy on us for the wrongs that we’ve done, but cry out for justice upon those who have committed wrongs towards us. We find ourselves shutting people out who might live life contrary to our beliefs; those who don’t quite meet up to our expectations. (I’m certain there is someone you can think of at this very moment whose attitudes and actions irritate or inconvenience you.) They can bug us so much that it becomes “painful.” If they’ve hurt us in some way, either intentionally or unintentionally, we tend to shut them out. We “sign off” from them and forget the heart of God who is relentlessly committed to sinners. Jesus died for the ungodly. That includes you and me…and those who hurt us or offend us. That means we sin against God when we cease praying for them. Read the rest of this entry »