Most days I wake up and go about my day with a general sense of peace, but on certain days I wake up with a certain state of weariness. It’s the overwhelming feeling that the whole world is against me in some way and it’s all just too much to handle. It’s not often that it happens ,but when it does it feels like a weight has been tied to my chest and even moving to get out of bed seems like a daunting task.

This particular day was a mass attack of this very same pressure, like an ambush on my soul. I wrestled with myself as I laid in bed as to what to do, should I get up and start getting things done that I need to do, should I busy myself to take my mind off this crushing anxiety, should I work out to try and release some endorphins? These thoughts all streamed through my mind as I lay there in mental anguish wrestling with the sheets that tangled at my feet. In these times of need I sometimes become so desperate I forget that there is such a simple answer to my weariness. Jesus, so I went to my most trusted source, The Holy Bible.

I think of the Bible as not only my help and guidance for difficulties I’m having in my life but as my complete road map for life, and not only is it a roadmap but it’s a living word better than any fake British accented lady on your GPS. If you don’t know what I mean by living word I’ll give you a taste. In John chapter one it states: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

This means Jesus is the living word of God. His life and his teachings recorded in the new testament of the Bible are the direct link to God. But Jesus isn’t living anymore you say so how is the word still alive? Its alive because In John 14:26, Jesus promises to leave us with a guide after his death, the holy spirit: “ “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

It’s the living spirit of God within us! We have him always to direct our path, we just have to put down all those distracting things we try to busy ourselves with to solve our own problems and listen. He speaks in ways sometimes unimaginable, through scripture in the Bible, through friends and family, through words from a pastor, and even through a clear audible voice unmistakably the voice of God. He is living! The word is living, when you open the bible it’s not just words on a page but a voice from our Father, our creator savior and protector. 2 Corinthians 5:15. God is alive and jumping off the page every time you open that little leather-bound book and flip those thin sliced pages. If you just take a second to clear your thoughts and listen, you may be surprised at what you hear.

Today like I told you before, was a day of wrestles awakening, and today instead of busying myself to distract me from my anxiety or hiding under my blankets from the world outside my white down comforter, I opened my Bible. Haphazardly I leave my bookmark in different places and so I as I turned to the spot I bookmarked last, I came upon Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, yes, comfort my people!” says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her. That her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.”

If that’s not proof of the living word of God I don’t know what is. As I read I felt a rush of emotion pass through my body like a wave starting in the tip of my head rolling down through my spine until the pleasant tingle of joy hit all the way to my toes. This, my friend, is the Holy Spirit. He will come when ever you cry out to him. He will come in the middle of the night or the earliest of mornings. In your darkest hour and your most joyest hour he will come John 16:13“Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.”
I continued reading and as I hit the last verse of the 40th chapter of Isaiah I read:
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord
The creator of the ends of the earth
Neither faints nor is weary
His understanding is unsearchable
He gives power to the weak
And to those who have no might He increases strength
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength
They shall mount up with wings like eagles
They shall run and not be weary
They shall walk and not faint.

I continued reading through Isaiah and all the while feeling as if the words were not only being read by my brain but my heart and soul as if I was not even reading them at all but being spoken to by God audibly, like a voice within me unrecognizable to my own. I listened more intently now as the story and the words I was being told were becoming more profound and inspiring by the minute. As I approached Isaiah 43:1 I began to feel the tears of joy swell in my eyes and these few simple verses just jumped off the page:

But now, thus says the Lord, who has created you, o Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel:”Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you; for I am the Lord your God; The holy one of Israel, your savior. I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you were precious in my sight you have been honored, and I have loved you; therefore I will give men to you, and people for your life. Fear not for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east and gather you from the west; I will say to the north, “Give them up!” And to the south, “Do not keep them back” Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth- Everyone who is called by my name whom I have created for my glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him”

As I finished reading the sun poured in my window and people began to stir. I thanked God for waking me up early with that bout of slight anxiety so I could be reminded of his Glory his power and how madly in love he is with me. How sweet and magnificent is it to have your true love to comfort you in the midst of doubt and frustration. I thank the lord for all of the gifts he has given me in my life and for the bad times too, because without my bouts of bad the Good would never taste so sweet. Thank you, Lord, for your everlasting promise of love and protection.

Blessings
Lauren Rae Vopatek