Christ Will Rescue You

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

God Is Watching Over Us

1Peter 3:12-13(NLT)
12 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.”13 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good?”

My great-grandmother was the quintessential matriarch of our family. She was generous and tirelessly poured into others, but she also taught me two very important lessons. The first is to always save something for yourself, and the second is to never forget where I came from. The aim of her wisdom was to make sure I understood my own responsibility towards my happiness and well-being, and the other was to make sure I treated everyone with respect and kept it all in balance. No matter what situations in life I’ve faced, that bit of wisdom has helped me more than I can say. It is ingrained in my womanhood.

Growing up in the south had its own brand of what is right and wrong. As kids, we knew that respecting our elders was the right thing, and most importantly, we knew that honoring God was a must. Honoring God meant that a person had a particular integrity, and it was counted on and expected in the part of the south where I grew up. We were taught to have respect for God and others from the moment we opened our eyes as babies. Today, I’m so grateful to all the women and men in my family and community that taught me God’s Word, because now that I’m older, I haven’t departed from it. I have in fact built my life on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.

Sadly, the knowledge and instruction in 1Peter 3:12-13, and wisdom like my great-grandmother’s, isn’t taught in grade school. I’ve met countless numbers of individuals that we’re never taught the Word of God in any way. Most of them grew up to be adults who don’t consider seeking the Lord, and never knew that He had a purpose for their lives. They have had many opportunities to turn to Him, but they choose not to. Then, when they face some of the most gut-wrenching times of their lives, they don’t know they can lean on God’s strength to get them through. They suffer horribly, without any real comfort, because they refused to know God through our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The psalmist said in Psalm 10:17-18(NLT), “17 Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. 18 You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.” This is the God we serve and honor. It is so wonderful to know that He opens His ears to hear our prayers, and He will never forsake us because we honor Him and desire to do what is right.

There are some people whose names are written in God’s Book of Life, but they haven’t yet heard the Word in a way that leads to their conversion. As believers, we can have an impact on them. We need to eat, sleep, and drink God’s Word so that when we have an opportunity to minister the Gospel, we are prepared to tell others about Jesus Christ, and do so very plainly.

There is so much disruption and chaos happening in the world, and the devil is busy with bombarding people so they will not turn to God. They are blinded from the truth by satan, but for those of us that have come into the light of Christ, we know that the eyes of God have been on our lives since we came into this world. It has made all the difference for us. We must remember that everyone may not have had an opportunity to know Him as we have. That’s why you and I must be eager to do good as 1Peter 3:13 says, so we can introduce them to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will come to know him like we do. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Dealing with Emotional Exhaustion

When the soul is tired, God’s truth becomes more necessary than ever

Most of us encounter people every day who are hurting, worn down, and searching for relief from emotional pain, yet we often do not realize the depth of what they are carrying. On the outside, they may appear fine, functioning, and even strong, while inwardly they are struggling to keep themselves together. Many of these people are believers.

Even throughout Scripture, some of the men and women God used greatly experienced seasons of deep grief, fear, and emotional distress. David wrote openly about heartbreak, fear, and the exhaustion that came from constantly dealing with opposition. Job suffered such devastating loss that he cursed the day he was born. Time and again, the Bible shows us that emotional suffering is not new, nor is it a sign that someone has no faith. Many people are simply tired of carrying fear, uncertainty, disappointment, and unanswered questions.

Although technology and modern conveniences have advanced tremendously, humanity has not advanced emotionally in the same way. People still wrestle with fear, anxiety, discouragement, and inner instability. And while emotional struggles may appear more layered today, God’s answer has never changed. His remedy is still found through faith in Jesus Christ.

The difficulty is that many believers are trying to hold onto faith while still letting emotions take the lead in how they think and respond. We want peace, but we often reach for it through control, outcomes, reassurance, or quick answers. We’re looking for outside influences, conditions, and people to cooperate with life so we can feel settled. But the truth is—you can’t look to things that are created or temporary to give you the kind of stability that only comes from God. That is why someone can appear successful on the outside and still feel drained within. The soul was never designed to draw its stability from circumstances.

If we strip emotional exhaustion down to its root, we will often discover fear, doubt, disappointment, impatience, and the frustration that comes from not being able to control what is happening around us. Many people become emotionally exhausted because they are trying to carry responsibilities that belong to God. We exhaust ourselves attempting to predict outcomes, protect ourselves from pain, or force things into place. But faith was never meant to operate from panic or self-preservation. 1 John 4:18 (NIV) says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” God never intended for our emotions to determine whether we trust Him. Yet many believers unconsciously allow emotions to decide whether their faith feels strong or weak. When things seem hopeful, faith feels easy. But when life becomes uncertain, many begin measuring God’s faithfulness through emotion rather than through truth.

This is why our focus must return to Jesus Christ. Not the version of Him we created around our expectations, but the real Christ revealed through the Word of God. His faithfulness cannot be measured by whether life feels manageable in the moment. It must be measured by truth. Hebrews 13:8 (NLT) tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” That means His character does not shift with our emotions, our disappointments, or our unanswered questions. He remains faithful even while we are trying to regain our footing emotionally. And sometimes healing begins when we stop demanding that feelings confirm God’s presence and start anchoring ourselves in what He already said. Jesus Christ already proved the Father’s love for us through the Cross. That truth still stands whether emotions cooperate with it or not.

Emotional exhaustion does not have to become our identity. Through Jesus Christ, God has given us access to peace, renewal, wisdom, and strength that reaches deeper than emotion. But we cannot continue allowing fear, disappointment, or emotional instability to sit in the place where trust in God belongs. The answer has always been the same—draw near to Him, renew your mind through His Word, and allow the Holy Spirit to rebuild what exhaustion has worn down. Isaiah 40:31 (NLT) says, “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.” Not pretend strength. Not temporary motivation. Real strength that comes from learning how to rest in the faithfulness of God. ■

“Dealing with Emotional Exhaustion”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Turning to God in Total Surrender

God Delights in Surrendered Hearts

In Deuteronomy 30:10(NLT), Moses told the people of God living in Old Testament times, “The LORD your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.” God’s call to turn to Him with our whole hearts is still relevant today. The difference is, we now have His Spirit living within us—and with that gift comes a greater responsibility. It isn’t enough to simply turn to God, because even those that don’t know Him or care to know Him will turn to Him when they are facing extreme trouble or despair. They cry out for mercy in crisis, but when the storm passes, they drift back to their old ways. God’s instruction to His people was to turn to Him with all their heart and soul. This is a turning that signals total and complete surrender to God through Christ. It means that we are abandoning everything else and depending on God with everything that we are. This is what our Heavenly Father wants from us.

Disappointments That Redirect Us

We are often surprised when we can’t make something work, or when we put our all into a thing, and it turns out to be far from what we expected. In reality, every disappointment, every sadness and despair, and every heartache and emotional pain asks us to reroute our hearts, put God first, and begin to seek Him in a way we hadn’t before. God is faithful, and He can be trusted with our hearts; they belong to Him anyway.

Wisdom Passed Down

In the Old Testament, as King David prepared to pass from this life and enter the next, he had a talk with his son, Solomon, who was going to take over David’s throne. David said to him in 1Kings2:2-4 (NLT), “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. Observe the requirements of the LORD your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. If you do this, then the LORD will keep the promise he made to me. He told me, ‘If your descendants live as they should and follow me faithfully with all their heart and soul, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’”

Any loving father passes down what matters most. David knew success didn’t come from himself—it came from God, who had blessed him richly and given him victory again and again. David told Solomon, his son, how to succeed! In essence, he told him to keep God’s Word and follow it, because God is faithful and will honor the promises He has made to His people.

The Two-Way Street of Relationship

It is also important to understand that God’s promises had a condition. This is the part that many of us skip over. A relationship is not a relationship without the participation of the other party. There’s no such thing as a one-sided relationship. Both parties must participate, and it is so important to Heavenly Father that we understand this. Ephesians 2:10 declares that God created us as His masterpieces. We are His finest work, and He created us spiritually in Christ so we can do the good things He planned for us way before we entered our mother’s wombs. Jesus Christ is our Big Brother. Romans 8:29 says that God knew us and handpicked us out from among the world to be His very own. God chose us to be replicas of Jesus Christ, so that Jesus Christ would be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters.

This shows us that God wanted a family and we’re it! He planned for us, He created everything for our well-being, and He continually calls out to us. He’s woven reminders throughout our everyday existences. They are alarms to wake us up so that we remember who we are; so that we will not go back to our old ways but remain diligent to pattern ourselves after Christ. God has commanded us not to follow the world and become indoctrinated in their cultures and traditions, because this violates the relationship that He wants with us. He wants us to have success and walking in His Word is what makes successful living possible.

This relationship is a two-way street, and God set the parameters. John 3:16 (NKJV) tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God gave first, and boy did He give, big time!!! He gave His most precious treasure, which is the life of His only begotten Son. This is the central parameter that Heavenly Father has set. He gives to us in exceedingly abundance, and we respond to His giving by trusting Him and following what He says. Following God’s Word equates to responding to Him in faith. Trusting God’s Word equals responding to Him in gratitude, obedience, honor, and love. When we don’t respond to Him this way, we are choosing to look away and take our eyes off Him. That’s a very dangerous thing to do.

No Half Surrender

God doesn’t entertain a half surrender, and many of us find this out the hard way, when we face the most challenging issues of life. We try to walk in faith while still entertaining fear—going back and forth as if both can stand together. But they cannot. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith is our foundation; without it we can’t please God. Having faith in His Word is the very least we can do for all He has done for us. The choice to have faith in Him confronts us not just in challenging times, but from the very moment we open our eyes each morning. We are bombarded with choices to surrender to God. Surrendering our day to His divine leadership and guidance should be our continual prayer. Many of us think that God will go where He hasn’t been invited, or that He will intervene in areas of our lives that we haven’t surrendered to His Word and guidance. Well, Jesus Christ said in Revelation 3:20 (NKJV), “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” God is beyond gentle. He’s happy, brilliant, and loving. He waits on us to invite Him in. When we do, He will commune with us through the Spirit of Christ.

God is Faithfulness to the Surrendered

God is faithful to keep His promises. Moses told God’s people in Deuteronomy 7:9 (NLT) “Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.” Even if we are not faithful to God, He is faithful to always keep His Word. His truth goes forth with perfection, but we will deny ourselves the proof and witness of seeing the fruit of His promises in our lives if we refuse to trust His Word. Let’s love Him greater than that. Let’s honor Him with our faith and trust that when we surrender fully, we are resting in the reality that it is impossible for Him to fail. We’ve proven that we trust in the reality that it’s impossible for Him to fail. He is faithful to bring His promises to pass in our lives, and it pleases Him when we honor Him for being the faithful, loving, and powerful God that He is. ●

“Turning to God in Total Surrender”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2026. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Lord, What Am I Missing?

God has blessed each of us immeasurably. There are blessings we couldn’t possibly enumerate or articulate, and they converge in such a way that we woke up this morning to see another day. That alone is reason to praise God and thank Him for being so good to us. Most folks recognize His overwhelming goodness and are truly thankful. But you can be thankful and still feel dissatisfied at the same time, and that’s where many of us are. There’s an unsettledness that lingers beneath the gratitude.

We love God, thank Him, and still wrestle with emptiness, loneliness, disappointment, numbness, or a sense that something just is not connecting. That feeling can make a person ask, Lord, what am I missing? Sometimes we think the answer is money, marriage, recognition, or a changed situation. But many people have gained those things and still carry an ache in their soul. The real issue is often deeper than circumstances. It is about spiritual alignment, nourishment, and cultivating deep roots.

Jesus Christ is the answer—but for many believers, that’s where it stops. A statement. A phrase we’ve heard so often that it can lose its depth if we don’t actually understand what it means. Because knowing about Jesus is not the same as being formed by Him. God never intended for us to relate to Christ from a distance. He meant for Christ to dwell richly within us and shape how we live from the inside out.

Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 3:16–17 (NLT). He says,“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.” That is not surface-level truth. That is structure. That is how a life is built.

Roots determine everything—strength, stability, and what you’re actually drawing from. And if we’re honest, some of us have roots growing into things that were never meant to sustain us. Approval. Habits. Pride. Fear. People. Distractions. And when your roots are in the wrong place, your soul will feel it. It will feel drained, unsettled, and constantly reaching.

We might call it boredom. We might call it sadness. But sometimes it’s deeper than that. Sometimes it’s misdirected rooting. Because God never designed us to pull life from those places. He built us to draw life from His love. And until that shift happens—until our roots go down into Him—nothing else will fully satisfy, no matter how much of it we have.

Jesus also explained that growth involves correction. In John 15:2 (NLT), He said, “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” Notice this pruning is not rejection. It is care. It is the work of a Father who sees what we can become and refuses to leave us stuck where we are. Sometimes the discomfort we feel is connected to God removing what has slowed us down. Some habits stayed too long. Some relationships trained us wrong. Some patterns became normal even though they were starving our inner life. We ask God for increase, but He often starts by cutting what blocks increase. That can feel uncomfortable, but it is mercy in work clothes.

Our walk with God is lived moment by moment, choice by choice. It is not built only in church services or emotional moments. It is built in what we entertain, what we justify, what we repeat, and what we surrender. Many people keep asking for joy while protecting the very things that steal it. Many ask for peace while feeding thoughts that poison it. Many ask for breakthrough while refusing correction. That emptiness may not be punishment at all—it may be an alarm. It may be Heaven letting you know there is more available than what you are settling for. God loves us too much to let us stay comfortable in what is shrinking us. Sometimes dissatisfaction is the doorway to promotion if we let it push us toward obedience.

The world teaches people to ignore the inner life and medicate every signal from the soul with distraction. But God uses signals for healing. That missing feeling can be a call to prayer, repentance, renewal, discipline, gratitude, or deeper trust. Jesus said in John 15:5 (NLT), “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” That means the issue is not merely trying harder. It is abiding better. Staying connected. Letting His words confront us, comfort us, and rebuild us. Fruit grows from connection, not performance. Wholeness grows from communion, not image management.

So if you are asking, Lord, what am I missing? begin here: ask Him to show you what has taken root that does not belong. Ask Him where you have drifted from the vine. Ask Him what you keep reaching for that cannot feed your soul. Then trust the Holy Spirit to lead you into truth, just as John 16:13 promises. God is not hiding your healing from you. He is leading you into it. What feels like something missing may actually be God making room for something greater. It may be the early sign of new fruit, deeper joy, stronger faith, and a life finally drawing from the right source. ■