Now may God, the fountain of Hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy, and perfect peace as you trust in Him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with His super abundance until you radiate with hope. Romans 15:13 TPT.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8.

I had the privilege this past weekend to be with a group of remarkable women in a Ladies Retreat for Abounding Hope. And as we shared testimonies about our journeys fraught with difficulties, challenges, uncertainties – I realized that each woman’s journey is unique and each life a spark known by Creator God – Father…Son…Spirit. How many lives have there been in all of humanity? And each life filled with need. And as we shared our personal journey needs this weekend, we laughed, we cried, we sobbed, we prayed with and for each other and we found connection in our love for God and in His love for us. In that connection, we found hope and joy and deep fulfilling of God’s love for every single one of us, and it was uplifting and powerful.

And how can we not long for that for every other person also so in need of God’s love? And our chapter, Isaiah 30, a long chapter, shows why that is so needed. Woe to the Obstinate Nation…the succinct chapter title. “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not Mine, forming an alliance, but not by My Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting Me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge…Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness. For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!’” v. 1-2, 8-11. Not by His Spirit…an empty way leading us further away from the help only God can provide. And in that way…this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern. v. 13-14. When we each of us reach that point in our lives where our own choices have left us shattered, remember God and turn to Him. It’s in looking back to before we turned to God for help, that we can see more clearly that He has always been with us. This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.” Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.” Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He hears, He will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them…v. 15-20. The chapter continues on and is so worth reading. Our personal journeys in this life have adversity and affliction and we struggle to understand why. I can’t tell you why. But I can share that it is in the adversity and in the affliction that I cry out to God – and He hears me. When I realize I can’t do this anymore on my own strength is when I am closest to Him because He is right there with me…and He is my strength and hope guiding me through each step of my way with Him. I am not ashamed to say I need God! I need His love and compassion and forgiveness and grace and even the faith I have in Him…He provides! He provides! How could I ever turn back to what is useless to help? Ask God to help you when you reach that point of absolute need for what is sure and true – God loves you. He will help you turn away from all that is useless to help – and show you the better way with Him.