What will you choose?

       These past months have been hard, so hard on so many levels. For many of us, the fall began with the unimaginable loss of the precious daughter of dear friends. And then COVID with all it's fear, destruction, and death.  Then terrible racial injustice exposed and the tragedy, the ugliness that this horrific sin still endures and divides. Oh forgive us and help us, Lord Jesus. And then the vitriol, the bitterness, the political divisiveness that threatens to literally tear this nation that we love apart.
         The continuing weight of it all, the ongoing isolation and loneliness from quarantine, the bone-deep sadness and perplexity and fear...Abba, we're weary and uncertain and look to You for hope, for deliverance, for strength, for redemption. Help us, show  us, lead us, revive us again, Father. Yes, we don't know what to do but our eyes are on You. (II Chron.20:12)
       But then I open our Heavenly Father's eternal Word, and His God-exhaled words breathe hope, sustenance, faith, and peace into my heart. He renews my mind and restores my perspective, and I realize afresh that He is in control. He is our Peace. He is the reconciling Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And He is the conquering Lion of Judah who destroys sin, hatred, bitterness, death and despair and rises triumphant over it all for us, for you, for me.
         "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful." (Col.3:12-15)
         Jesus is our Hope. He is our Way-maker. He is our Strength. He is our living Word, and He's given us His written Word that will transform our hearts, renew our minds, and redeem our culture.
         So the question is, how then will we live?  Will we fall back in despair or will we trustingly follow our Savior wherever He leads?  Will we give in to the negativity of the culture around us or will we choose to be salt and light? Will we choose the path of bitterness and recrimination or will we choose the path of forgiveness and restoration? Will we be led by fear or will we be led by faith?  Will we quietly blend in with the darkness or will we boldly shine the light and love of Christ?
         We choose. You choose. I choose. Yes, the darkness around us is thick, indeed, but the tiniest, weakest little flicker of candlelight will obliterate the darkness around it. We can be that light. Because remember--it's not our light...it's the unconquerable, unending, unfailing Light of the World that shine through us. We're not the source--He is. And because He is the Light, we know that His "light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5) 
           Maybe we need to stop trying so hard to shine, and simply choose, as His beloved, to have Him do the shining. We just need to obey...and that means forgive as He has forgiven us.  To forbear, to show compassion, to be kind, and above all, to love.
          We don't have to have it all figured out...just love as He's loved us.  Just shine His light. We don't have all the answers...but we have Jesus and He does.
          I'll close with the lyrics to a new song by Rascal Flatts--"How They Remember You"--that in many ways, says it all. The first time I heard it the other day, the tears flowed. I encourage you to go listen to it and remember that we all have the choice to be the love and light of Christ in this world.

Sprayed my name on a water tower
Carved it in an old cottonwood tree
Signed a bunch of high school yearbooks
So they wouldn't forget about me
It wasn't 'til I saw my daddy's name in stone I knew
It ain't a question of if they will
It's how they remember you

Did you stand or did you fall?
Build a bridge or build a wall
Hide your love or give it all
What did you do? What did you do?
Did you make 'em laugh or make 'em cry?
Did you quit or did you try?
Live your dreams or let 'em die?
What did you choose? What did you choose?
When it all comes down
It ain't if, it's how they remember you

When you're down to your last dollar
Will you give or will you take?
When the stiff wind blows the hardest
Will you bend or will you break? (Will you break?)
You're gonna leave a legacy, no matter what you do
It ain't a question of if they will
It's how they remember you

Did you stand or did you fall?
Build a bridge or build a wall
Hide your love or give it all
What did you do? What did you do?
Did you make 'em laugh or make 'em cry?
Did you quit or did you try?
Live your dreams or let 'em die
What did you choose? What did you choose?
When it all comes down
It ain't if, it's how they remember you

         Oh Father, help us to build bridges rather than walls; to love rather than to hide; to refuse to quit but by Your grace and for Your glory, to keep trying, keep giving, keep forgiving, keep helping, keep encouraging, keep loving, keep shining.  When they remember us, might they simply see You.
        To You--the Light of the World--be all the glory.

Not fear but power, love, and self-control

        "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." (2 Tim.1:7)
        Lord, I know this intellectually, but help me to live it out experientially.
        I haven't been able to put my finger on it exactly, but as I've pondered it, it seems that I'm battling a vague and deep-seated sense of fear and anxiety over all that has been happening in our world. First the corona virus and all the uncertainty, isolation, division and destruction that this virus wrought on our world . And then, all that has surrounded the tragic, terrible death of George Floyd...the wounds that have split open, the ugly racism that has been exposed, the anger, the sorrow, the suffering, the vitriolic divisions. It's been both heartbreaking and convicting. It's engendered both lament but also fear. What will the future hold? Where will this end?  What if we respond in the wrong way? What are we to do to help make a difference? What does it mean to be salt and light in this situation? 
        I don't know...but my Savior does. He knows what it means to walk right into pain, division, and difficulty and bring healing, hope, grace, and light. He steps right into the brokenness. He never shies away from the hard conversations.
        As Jesus prepared to go to Calvary for our sins, He--who was and is fully God--knew full well the incalculable weight of all the sin that would soon be laid upon Him and the infinite amount of suffering He would endure.  And yet, we're told, "When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem." (Luke 9:51). Or as some translations put it, He "set His face like flint." Such steely, unwavering determination to go straight into the horrific, cosmic battle for our souls which would cost Jesus His life...but would give us ours. Oh thank You, Lord Jesus.
        So when we ponder Jesus and His suffering for us, when we "consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself" for us, how can we grow weary or fainthearted? (Heb.12:3) How can we shirk the hard conversations? How can we seek to avoid all discomfort and pain in our desire for self-protection and self-preservation? How can we choose comfortable isolation over uncomfortable loving? How can we succumb to fear of the future when He calls us to reject our fear and act on our faith in Him. To act on our faith in the One who holds the future in His nail-scarred hands and promises that He is with us always, even to the end of the earth
        Yes, I know these things intellectually, but yet that stubborn fear wants to wrap it's icy tentacles around my heart. 
        To my fearful "what if, what if, what if?," the answer is "But God..." 
        But God's Word promises that the Lord has given "us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."
        That "spirit of fear" I claim to feel?  It's not from the Lord who has given us His Spirit to dwell within us.  No, that fear is not from Him, so I, so we, need to reject and refuse it and instead act in accordance with the Spirit of power, love, and self-control that our heavenly Father has given us.
         By the power of the Holy Spirit, away with you fear--you ugly, destructive, paralyzing, unloving, unbelieving, joy-sucking, peace-destroying fear.
         Instead, by God's grace and for His glory, might we act in obedience to the gentle yet powerful promptings of His Holy Spirit--to trust, to love, to forgive, to sacrifice, to be salt and light, and to live with joy, hope, and gratitude in our hearts, words, and actions.  We can't, but He can. 
        Thank You, Father, for Your unfailing, unchanging Word. Thank You for our saving, living Savior. And thank You for the indwelling, empowering Holy Spirit. Help us this day and everyday to be led by faith, not by fear. You've promised us that we have Your Spirit of power, love, and self-control, so please enable us walk in step with the Spirit, by Your grace, for Your glory.
        To God be the glory.

But God...

        "But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal.3:25-27)
        "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those of the household of faith." (Gal.6:9-10)
        The events of the past few weeks have been beyond heartbreaking. What a vicious, pernicious sin racism is. To think that our nation continues to confront this hideous sin of devaluing the worth of some human beings based simply upon the color of the skin. How can this be? What is wrong with the heart of mankind?  How can one human being treat another human being this way?
         And yet, what is wrong with my selfish, prideful, stubborn heart?  As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in The Gulag Archipelago, “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
          Like so many of us, I have wept to see the evil that resides in the human heart--and the horrific price that has been paid by generation after generation because of the sin of racism.  Generation after generation of African Americans hurt beyond anything I can understand (but I'm trying) but also of the countless generations of those whose hearts have been warped, twisted, and destroyed by their hatred. 
         Yet even as I want to cast stones at that sin, God shows me my own heart with its dividing line of good and evil. My lack of self-sacrificial love and compassion. My desire for my own way.  My idolatry of comfort and security. My pride. My impatience. My determined love of self.  Oh, my sin, too, is relentless and stubborn and hideous.
        But God...oh such beautiful words, "But God..." 
        "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph.2:4-9) 
        But God is rich in mercy.
        But God loves us with His great and perfect and beautiful love.
        But God saved us even when we were absolutely dead in all our hideous sin and made us alive in Christ.  Because God doesn't make bad people good...He makes dead people alive. Including you, including me.
         But God has saved us by His grace--His utterly unearned, utterly undeserved grace--and raised us up to the heavenly places with Christ to show us the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness.  God's immeasurable riches--I cannot even begin to fathom this...but oh how thankful I am...
        ...and humbled because it has absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing to do with my worth or ability or performance.  It's all by His unmerited, underserved, amazing grace. Which means no one can boast. Not Billy Graham or Tim Keller or Ann Lotz or the most godly person you or I know.  And most certainly not me!  Oh mercy, definitely not me.
          Yes, it feels an awful lot like our world right now is on fire. The problems seem impossibly  difficult, the pain immeasurably deep, the anger and fear frighteningly great...but God.
           Not us, but God.
           Now is the time to listen.  To learn. To seek to understand more than to be understood. To weep with those who weep. And to pray, to trust, to hold up our empty hands to the sovereign King and Kings and admit, "we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” (II Chron.20:12)
         Lord, we don't know what to do, but our eyes finally, finally are fixed on You. You alone. You are able. You took the sin and pain and hatred and racism of all the world upon Yourself, Lord Jesus, and You conquered every bit of it at the cross.  So we look to You. We trust You. We depend upon You. We ask You to cleanse us, to help us, to lead us, to teach us, to equip us, to shine Your light and love through us. May we be vessels of Your grace, forgiveness, hope, and sacrificial love to the world around us. Help us not to become weary in doing good in the hard, holy days ahead but to keep our eyes fastened on You as we run this race ahead of us, all by Your grace all to Your glory.
         How we praise You that even for the worst of our sins, we can loudly proclaim "But God..."
         To God, to our Savior Jesus who is the Way-Maker, the Reconciler, the Redeemer, be all the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Only a breath away

        "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb.4:14-16)
         How thankful I am today and everyday that we can daily, hourly, moment by moment, draw near to the throne of all thrones--the throne of all power, all majesty, all sovereignty, all wisdom, all awesomeness.  Imagine the privilege, the wonder of that--that we, who are but little dust people, who fail and forget and falter again and again, can enter right into God's very throne room.! A place of such unfathomable holiness, greatness, and power...and yet we dare, indeed, we are exhorted time and again, to come to His throne. 
        Moreover, we're told to come to God's throne with confidence! The greek word for that is also translated "boldness" and "courage." If this wasn't in God's Word, I'd call that ridiculous presumption and prideful folly. But not according to God's Word--and the very words of the Lord trump any and all of our emotions, ideas, and inadequacies.
        And what will we receive there?  Well, here's another reason we can approach Him with confidence, not terror and dread. We need not expect stern lectures, dire warnings, expressions of great disappointment, nor harsh sentences of judgment. No, because of our Savior Jesus, He promises we will receive amazing grace, we will receive astounding mercy,  and we will receive the supernatural help that only the Lord can give.
         So here's the question: why aren't we going?  Seriously, why are we not continually beating a path to that beautiful, wondrous, powerful throne of grace? What is preventing us?  Busyness?  Preoccupation? Doubt? Laziness? Forgetfulness?
          Whatever reason we might ostensibly come up with--and I'm preaching to myself here!--there is NO REASON!  The glorious throne of almighty God is open to us.  It's a throne of unimaginable power and yet also a throne of unlimited grace, mercy, and help.  And because we're told to come boldly, confidently, courageously, let's do it!  (Again, I'm not just exhorting you, but I'm preaching to amnesiac me, myself, and I here too! Because no one needs this reminder worse than yours truly!)
          In light of all that, I wanted to throw out one suggestion that has particular application in times of stress and worry.  Hmm, Covid anyone?  It's super easy, can be done anywhere, anytime, and has the ability to calm your racing heartbeat and your fretful mind.  It's simply the process of breath prayers. Meaning: as you take deep breaths, you repeat a simple verse in your mind.
         Here's one way to do it.  As you take a deep breath in (for about the count of 3 or so), say in your mind the first half of the verse. Then, as you slowly exhale, you repeat in your mind the second half of the verse. For instance, slowly take a deep breath in as you say in your mind "When I am afraid" and then as you exhale slowly, you repeat "I put my trust in You." (Ps.56:3)  Or a little longer one: inhale to "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you" and breath out to "He will never permit the righteous to be moved." (Ps.55:22)  Or inhale to "The Lord is my shepherd" and exhale to "I shall not want." (Ps.23:1)  Or one of my favorites: Inhale to "God is our refuge and strength" and exhale to "A very present help in trouble." (Ps.46:1)
           You get the idea--pick a few verses that you love, write them down, and start praying them in and out, in and out, in and out with your breath.  I've typically heard it suggested to do this about ten times in a row to allow your breath to slow your heart rate, and more importantly, to allow God's supernatural Word to transform your mind.
             As Matthew Henry said so many years ago, "Days of trouble must be days of prayer."  My hope is that this simple exercise will help us to avail ourselves of this priceless privilege and powerful weapon against anxiety and discouragement.  Our God is only a breath away. Let's go to His throne with confidence and know He will give us His grace, mercy, and help. 
             To God be the glory.

Let us not grow weary!

        Anybody feeling a tad weary?  Weary of worrying about this blasted, infernal virus. Weary of worrying about our courageous front-line health-care workers and other essential workers who face the relentless danger everyday of contracting COVID. Weary of cooking and cleaning up...cooking and cleaning up...cooking and cleaning up. Weary of not being able to fellowship or simply laugh and be with friends and family. Weary of face masks and social distancing and flat curves and recitation of ever rising daily death tolls. Weary of relentless hand washing.  Weary of trying to choose gratitude over grumbling. Weary of that constant weight of anxiety over vulnerable or aged family and friends. Weary of feeling you're not doing enough to help yet not quite knowing what you can do.  Weary of wondering and worrying about a very uncertain, unknown future. Weary of missing those plain old, basic routines of daily life that now seem utterly impossible for who knows how long.
         Anybody feeling just plain weary? 
         Well, my hand is raised and waving wildly--me, me, me.  I'm not despairing or desperate.  I'm not facing catastrophic loss or overwhelming difficulty. I'm not battling this hideous virus on the front lines. So, guess what? I have absolutely no right or reason to complain...but I will admit to just a bit of weariness with this who-knows-how-long siege of COVID-19.
         Therefore I figured it was high time to do a little preaching to myself. Do a little less listening to myself and a little more talking to myself. Because as I've shared over and over again--I'm mighty forgetful. I'm awfully prone to myopic thinking, selfishness, and fruitless worry.  I sometimes suffer from spiritual amnesia. Sigh. Forgive me Lord.
          But praise His great name that His mercies are new every morning. As the passage I read out loud about every morning (thank you, sweet Nancy McDougal!) from Lam.3 reminds us--"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.' The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." (Lam.3:21-26)
           We need to call it to mind--preach it to ourselves. We need to remember who the Lord is and His steadfast, never-ending, never-diminishing love. We need to proclaim the Truth to our souls that we may vacillate and grow weary, but He never ever does. His faithfulness is perfect, unchanging, and eternal. And we need to tell our weary-of-waiting and anxious hearts that it is good to wait on the Lord, that we are waiting on the Lord, not on the virus, and that we can wait with hope and peace, because God's timing and ways are always good, right, and pleasing.
            And while we are waiting, He is working and moving.  While we are waiting, He is shaping and moulding. While we are waiting, Almighty God is doing and accomplishing what only He can do--even if we can't yet see it or understand it.
            So today, let's choose waiting on our God over our weariness. "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." (Gal.6:9)  His promises never fail, and His Holy Spirit will enable us to do all that He commands. So let's walk by the Spirit, and today choose to reject weariness and instead to continue doing the good that our faithful Father puts before us.
          Lord, help us.  Help us, by the power of Your indwelling Holy Spirit, to not give in to our weariness but instead to continue doing whatever good You sovereignly place before us this day.  Help us to cook the meals with a joyful attitude...to love those around us...to express our gratitude for the countless little blessings all around us...to encourage others who might be weary or discouraged...to thank grocery workers, truck drivers,  policemen,  nurses, doctors and all those serving our communities...to stay in Your Word and preach it to ourselves...to pray without ceasing...to put on our face masks and wash our hands and do our little bit to help contain this virus in order that the most vulnerable among us might be safer.  And to do it all trusting You to use it for our greater good and Your greater glory. In Jesus' mighty and triumphant name. Amen.
          To God be the glory.
         

Join the chorus of praise!

        "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song. The Lord is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one." (Ps.28:7-8)
        "The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation." (Ps.118:14)
        "The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." (Isa.55:12)
        Just a little reminder that we have a singing, joyful God. And what should be our response?  Well, if life is going really well and all our needs are being met and all our family is doing great and we have plenty of toilet paper, all-purpose flour, and chocolate, then yes, we're to join in the chorus and praise Him, right? 
      Wrong, wrong, wrong! 
      "I WILL give thanks to Him in song"..."The Lord IS my strength and song"....or how about "MAKE a joyful noise to the Lord, ALL the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! COME into His presence with singing!" (Ps.100"1-2).  I didn't see any qualifications in any of those. Did you? 
      How about any exceptions for pandemics or shortages or unwanted isolation? Nope. Maybe a teeny tiny loophole when we're simply at the end of our rope or life feels cramped and hard or the people around us are getting on our last little nerve?  Ah, no once again.
      Praising God, singing (or just making a joyful noise--and we can all do that!) is not a suggestion nor is it qualified in any way. It's a command. But here's the thing--like all of God's commands, this is a life-giving, strength-infusing, perspective-correcting, joy-reviving command. We don't do it based on our feelings but based on our love for God. We don't do it because our lives are wonderful in every way, but because our great God is worthy and He promised to make all things beautiful in His time.
       And goodness gracious, I surely don't want the mountains and hills to out-sing me!  All of creation sings of His glory, and we have both the choice, the privilege, and the joy of joining in the chorus and magnifying God's praise and glory.
        I love how Charles Spurgeon puts it: "The material world has latent music in it, and a renewed heart knows how to bring it out and make it vocal. Mountains and hills are the bass of the chorus, while the trees of the wood and all things that have life take up the air of the melodious song." 
       Maybe you're feeling constricted or discouraged or downright desperate at this moment.  Well, then now is the perfect time to stop and make the choice to praise God. Put on some music and belt out your praises. Or walk outside and notice the astounding beauty of spring exploding all around you--and give God thanks!  He made it all, and He's given you the ability to see and savor it--so thank Him!  Or simply listen to the constant and magnificent chorus of the birds outside your window--and give their Creator glory! Or breathe deeply of the sweet scent of honeysuckle or refreshing smell of fresh mown grass--and praise their Maker!
        Consider the courageous front-line health care workers or the folks doing all the essential labor of getting food on the grocery store shelves--and thank the Lord for all they are doing to protect and help us. And let's not forget the restaurants providing take out (praise Jesus for Casa Carbone spinach calzone!) or friends like Julie making delicious casseroles to feed our families (making us look like rock stars!) or Hayes Barton Cafe cake (YES, Lord!)--don't you want to thank someone?  A thousand times yes! Thank them, of course, but also praise and thank your loving Heavenly Father who is the Author and Creator of all good food and who is the Giver of great fellowship that seasons and sweetens every one of those meals!
         So thank You, Lord, thank You.  You have given us such an extravagant abundance, but please we ask You, give us one thing more--thanking, praising hearts.  In the words of John Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer: "give me today, I beseech Thee, the mind and heart to rejoice in Thy creation. Forbid that I should walk through Thy beautiful world with unseeing eyes...Forbid that when all Thy creatures are greeting the morning with songs and shouts of joy, I alone should wear a dull and sullen face...And above all give me the grace to use these beauties of earth without me and this eager stirring of life within me as means whereby my soul may rise from creature to Creator, and from nature to nature's God." Lord, we love You, we praise You, we thank You, we worship You.  In Jesus' mighty and beautiful name. Amen.
        To God be all the glory forever and ever. 
       

Three little thoughts!

                                  "Stand fast in the Lord" (Phil.4:1)--Part II
        "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong."" (I Cor.16:13)
         As I shared the other day, God used this verse, and several others  like it, to greatly encourage my weary heart. Boy, there is nothing like God's Word, and there is no better way to begin your day than a dose of His supernatural, attitude-altering, strength-giving Word! But I did want to share three very brief, very simple thoughts that these verses and weariness brought to mind. 
         And here these three are: when you're weary, allow it to lead you to God's Word, look up in prayer, and lean in the Lord. (I told you they were simple!  But sometimes when we're struggling--especially with exhaustion or weariness--we need something really simple to remind and preach to ourselves.)  Just briefly--
         First, lead you to God's Word.  There's nothing more reviving to our hearts and minds than God's Word. How often have I opened His Word out of habit or even duty, and yet God, in His grace, speaks to and encourages me in a personal way.  Or He gives His wisdom, His strength, His conviction, His forgiveness, His grace through something in His Word. Never ever underestimate the power of God's Word.
        Second, look up in prayer. Again, duh, you're thinking. But seriously, how often do we simply fail to pray!  We figure a little dose of chocolate will revive us, or some online shopping, or some mindless entertainment, but we fail first to pray!  Corrie ten Boom always said, "Is prayer was steering wheel or your spare tire?"  Make it your steering wheel--go to God and tell Him your problems, share your exhaustion, ask for the help and provision only He can give.
       Third, lean in to the Lord.  In other words, depend on Him!  That's the part of the verse I love--stand fast in the faith, stand fast in the Lord!  In our faith in Him. In HIM!  He has all the power and provision and grace and hope and joy and love and strength we will ever need. So lean in and depend upon Him.
        That's it--told you it was short and simple!  But remember it the next time weariness hits--let it lead you to God's Word, look up in prayer, and lean in to the Lord in dependence. He's there and He's able!
        To God be the glory.