Looking for Strength in Tough Times? … Hello weekend readers. I always love the month of March. It’s my husband’s birthday, and then there is St. Patrick’s Day where everyone becomes Irish (I’m mostly Irish and this doesn’t bother us one bit!) and then there is March Madness. I love high school and collegiate basketball. The NBA seems so superficial!! Anyway, what a great month and then until it wasn’t.

In the past 10 days we have had 3 mass shootings at schools again. Lives taken by bullets and shooters by suicide. Five people are now fighting for their lives, 6 are gone and March isn’t even over! My heart aches for our schools. What does this do to the psyche of our children as well as their teachers? One teenage girl responded to a CNN reporter, “my brother died and his friend was my ‘other brother’ and I just feel helpless.” Can you imagine the imprint in her brain and memories of all this? Imagine how our soldiers on the battlefield try to heal from visages of flying bullets and death. One veteran I know who was an Army gunnery Sergeant said “it kicks the strength that you have right out the back door.”

In this violent society here and globally, where do we turn to for strength and some kind of peace of mind? I was reading Max Lucado’s newest book, “In the Footsteps of the Savior: Following Jesus Through the Holy Land.” Perfect timing as we approach Holy Week. With his permission I share an insight about Jesus that I never thought of:

“Heaven was not foreign to Jesus. He knew heaven before he came to earth. He knew what awaited him upon his return. And knowing what awaited him in heaven enabled him to bear the shame on the earth. I understand where Jesus found his strength. He lifted his eyes beyond the horizon, and he saw the table. He focused on the feast. He saw what gave him strength to finish—and finish strong. Such a moment awaits us. We’ll take our place at the table. In an hour that has no end, we will rest. Surrounded by saints and engulfed by Jesus himself, the work will, indeed, be finished.”

Heaven may seem foreign to us right now, but in the loss of a loved one, our thoughts of heaven come closer. For Jesus, heaven was his home and his was going back there from a hard-fought-but-successful-ending for his time on this earth. His focus was the feast awaiting him when he saw His Father and that is what Jesus invites us to anticipate. This isn’t a death wish, it is the peace we need that no matter what happens, the assurance that we will eat at the table with the Lord when he takes us home and it will be a gathering forever and ever.

As we struggle with shootings, addictions, political lies, inflation, struggling finances, health issues and so much more, we need strength—we need a “heavenly focus” to be able to live on earth until we are called home. We must ‘see the table set for us’ right now. It is an image that we need to have seared into our brains so when the troubles come—and they surely will—our focus will not be of depression and fear, but a reminder of what Jesus has for us in heaven. Earthly life is but a blip compared to the joys of eternity with our Savior!

Here are some of my favorite Scriptures that give me help and peace in troubling times:

*1 Chron.16:11:  Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
*Psalm 46:1:     God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
*Isaiah 43:2:    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.
*Phil. 4:13:     I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 

In closing, read these words from Max and find the strength your faith needs need not just for today, but every day you live on this earth: “When God’s work is finished in us, we will be seated, and Christ will christen the meal with these words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’.  And in that moment, the race will have been worth it.”

Come Lord Jesus, come. AMEN!