I select my podcast topics typically after prayer and this topic, not abandoned was selected months ago! It seems so timely for our current situation. We are not to fear, and we have an Almighty God that calms us in the midst of the storm. Let’s focus on those two points as we listen to this podcast.
Not Abandoned – Episode 136
Just the word abandon upsets me. Yet we feel abandoned so many times in our lives. We feel lonely or misunderstood. I often say, “No one listens to me,” typically many times a day when my kids are home. When we apply our feelings to that of Almighty God it gives us pause.
Exodus 17:7 asked the question, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” Even the “chosen” people asked one another this question as they traveled out of bondage into the desert. This has so much symbolism for us, doesn’t it? They were bound as slaves to the Egyptians, but we learn as we continue to read in Exodus that their minds were also bound to sin. They were slaves to sin. The wandered and wandered making mistake after mistake and ultimately while they reached the promised land, only their descendants would actually set foot upon this place, “flowing with milk and honey.” Exodus 3:8
When I read the scriptures I often see myself. I see that I often don’t trust the Lord. Why would I believe that the Lord was with the Israelites in the desert but that He is not here with me now?
Friends, we must vigilant and not let the anxiety go unchecked, anxiety leads to fear and fear leads to panic and depression. It might seem like an endless road and every time we get through one obstacle another one comes up. That is why we must choose to fill our minds with good things, with the things that will be a blessing to us and not worry or cause us to become anxious.
God is here He is providing for me and He is holding me in the palm of His hands. Isaiah 49:10
When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well – the woman was known to be in a sinful situation, she became changed and she also told everyone about the Messiah, the Christ, the savior of the world. He was there in their midst and he is here now in ours. We gather in His Name at church, we pray in His name, we cry out to Him. Why do we get upset (or I do) when someone uses the Name of God in vain, or in a blaspheme– because I know that the Lord’s Name has significance and He is all-powerful and Almighty. If he did not abandon the woman at the well, I know my Lord and Savior will not abandon me!
What can we do so that we do not feel abandoned?
- Spend time with God. Just a few minutes with your eyes closed every day. Make it a habit.
- Read the Bible. Start out in the psalms, or read Isaiah Chapter 49
- Journal what you are thankful for each and every day.
- Journal your prayer requests. Journals help us to see prayers are being answered and we will know that we are not abandoned.
- Ask the Lord to use you. What can I do for you today?
In Isaiah, we read, “I will never forget you, see, upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you, your walls are ever before me.”
Let’s Pray:
Dear Lord I know I am not abandoned because you tell me over and over in the scriptures that you will never forget, and you have me in the plans of your hands, you hold me up each and every day, you help me through the life burdens that sometimes seem so difficult! I want to praise you and thank you for this and ask you, my Lord, to help me to help others, how can I bring joy in the lives of others? Please, my God, hear my prayers as I pray for the following… I praise you and thank you for hearing my prayers and pray this in Jesus’ Name Amen.
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Thank you Felice! You struck several chords within my heart! Abandonment…I have spent about 4 years recovering from the abandonment of my spouse and only recently healed enough to speak and write about it. My heart and life was shredded only on the natural side, which is huge. However spiritually speaking and in retrospect I can see my God, who is so good, had prepared me. After initial grieving responses and many direct interventions from God through people He placed in my path I was able to each day trust enough to put one foot in front of the other. I was able to employ many of your suggestions and use them daily to frame my prayer. A wise priest said, “Nothing in this world happens outside of God’s will.” God has allowed this and He can bring good from it. What is the “good” for me? It could be something different for each of us. In this time of quarantine, for me, more time to repent of the ways I have failed to put God first in my life and time to see the awful consequences of a society that has denied God’s Commandments. I can pray in reparation for these insults to God. I can pray, standing in the Gap for our world! Personally I love the Chaplet of Adoration and Reparation. God will never leave us, or forsake us!