God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need
him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom.
—Psalm 46:1-2

Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—he’ll carry your
load, he’ll help you out.—Psalm 55:22

The person who shuns the bitter moments of friends
will be an outsider at their celebrations.—Proverbs 14:10

A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom
and doom leave you bone-tired.—Proverbs 17:22

Jesus said, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on
religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll
recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.
Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything
heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with
me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
—Matthew 11:28-30

Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time
in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself
is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing
things I absolutely despise. . . . I realize that I don’t have
what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to
do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad,
but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are,
don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep
within me and gets the better of me every time.
It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The
moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up.
I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious
that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me
covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take
charge. I ’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the
end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything
for me? Isn’t that the real question?
The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and
does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions
where I want to serve God with all my heart
and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do
something totally different.—Romans 7:14-15,18-25

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus
the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing
counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through
hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside
someone else who is going through hard times so
that we can be there for that person just as God was
there for us. . . .It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to
make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that
it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best
thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting
in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were
forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s
the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us
from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as
many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers
are part of the rescue operation.—2 Corinthians 1:3-4,8-11

We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but
we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but
we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually
terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve
been thrown down, but we haven’t broken.
—2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone
united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created
new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look
at it!—2 Corinthians 5:17

When life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion
that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you
are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is
a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the
corner.—1 Peter 4:12-13