Newsletter

I hope that you have had a fabulous week!

As I wrote last week about hope, it has been on my mind this week the outcomes of hope. Usually one of two things will occur – joy or disappointment. Joy is easy to deal with, but what about disappointment?

With the fertility journey, I realized that you can go through a mini grieving process 12 or more times a year, if you are trying to get pregnant, and then there is the matter of losing a baby or getting a negative report from the doctor. Disappointment can play a very real part of the process.

My husband and I had a disappointment this week, but I do believe that the way we chose to handle it (to be honest, the response was really driven by him as I was a bit of a blubbery puss) has greatly affected the emotional and spiritual outcome of the situation.

When we got “the negative report” the first thing my husband did was grab me and start to pray. He started out by thanking God for who He is, thanking Him that His Word is true, thanking Him for our family. He spoke out God’s Word right back to Him. And he meant it!! The next thing he did was go to the stereo and put on some worship music.  Immediately our mood lifted and we were no longer crushed by our disappointment. Sad yes, crushed no. The ‘recovery’ time was so much quicker than when, in the past, we have had a moan to God and then started to thank Him and praise Him.

I received a letter from a woman this week who has joined us, and she mentioned 2 Chronicles 20. I read it and had to just smile! King Jehosaphat set himself to seek the Lord, and to ask for His help in fighting his enemies. The first thing Jehosaphat did was proclaim a fast throughout Judah, and then they all sought the Lord and His help. Then he declares to God His goodness and speaks back to Him all His promises and what He is able to do.

The Lord’s response to them is beautiful and fully worth reading (2 Chron 20:15-17) He tells them not to fear, to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. He tells them to position themselves (which we are doing to by standing in agreement with God’s Word) and not to fear or be dismayed!! How awesome is that??

So, Jehosaphat and all the people praised God, and they went into battle singing His praises and worshipping Him.

It goes without saying really that they received the victory.

If praising and worshipping God was important all those years ago, then surely it is still incredibly important in winning our battles today. I guess some days it is a sacrifice of praise, but how precious is that!

And as I said, when my husband and I immediately thanked Him and worshipped Him the other day, it most definitely made a huge difference to our disappointment. It cast it down and we are able to hope again!