HOPE & LIGHT

When we live with the daily challenges of chronic illness, it’s easy to turn our focus on our problems instead of on the Lord. One of my favorite passages to turn to when I’m tempted to do this is found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV

For me, these verses are especially fitting, since I’m now 75 years old. After being in the accident that was the beginning of my life with chronic illness and pain almost 28 years ago, my body is definitely “wasting away.” But I’m grateful that I am truly “inwardly being renewed day by day.”

I’m currently doing a Bible Study entitled The Love of God and Our Emotions which includes mind renewal activities everyday. This study is helping me to recognize that in all the traumatic circumstances I have been though, I was encircled by the love of God.

The accident that left me crippled and was the beginning of all my chronic conditions, losing our first-born daughter in the same accident, having another child who was profoundly retarded, bed-bound, and completely dependent upon others to meet all his needs until the Lord took him home to be with Him in 1998 – in spite of all these, God loved me when I was going through them, and He still loves me. And His love is equally available for all His sons and daughters who have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ.

Another truth from these verses in 2 Corinthians concerns where our focus is to be: On what is unseen. This reminds me of Hebrews 11:1, the first verse in the chapter often called “The Hall of Faith.” This is how the KJV words it. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” So fixing our on “what is unseen” is simply walking in faith.

I love the way The Passion Translation words this verse.

“Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.”

Hebrews 11:1 TPT

On this Thankful Thursday, I encourage each of you to meditate on 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. Also, remember we are to give thanks in all circumstances. Whether you deal with the challenges of chronic illness or the details of your life are completely different, remember there aren’t any exceptions to this command from God.

Thank You, by Hillsong Worship https://youtu.be/BSMuZFUL-0g