Help

 Life here on earth is challenging. Personal plans fail and replacement actions never seem adequate for what is missing. Acquaintances overlook us and good friends can let us down. Even those we trust most as brothers or sisters in Jesus can severely wound us. Sometimes our prayers can feel like they go unanswered and even ignored. Where is the Holy Spirit that lives inside me? Our physical health can deteriorate more rapidly than we expect. Advancing age can steal a loved one's mind before their body gives up. We can grow weary, worn out and discouraged by the circumstances that surround our lives and robs us of the joy that used to fill our days. When we become overburdened with these things, we may find ourselves beginning to doubt our place in life. Sometimes, we may doubt God's involvement in our lives. This was the question John the Baptist’s disciples went to ask Jesus (Matt. 11:1-6); Jesus’ actions was the answer provided to John. If the Holy Spirit is honing me and He is described as good, why do I not recognize some goodness in my life? Does the Holy Spirit really help me in some way or have I resisted His activities and stopped whatever He was trying to do through me? When this happens, we feel defeated and afraid to talk to anyone about our doubts; we may decide to create a façade and deny our real state of weakness. As a result, we wrestle with these challenges and fears alone. But why are we afraid to admit our doubts? We are not alone in having doubts. As we move forward on our unique individual spiritual journey, each person may experience various doubts about different things, maybe even life, itself. However, we are not alone. Even the men who had spent time living with Jesus were discouraged after Jesus’ death. As they hid, they received good news, but could they believe it? “and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” – Lk. 24:9-11 (ESV). These men ran to the tomb immediately to find out if the news was true. Finding the tomb open and empty corroborated the news, but left them with many more questions.  Later, Jesus personally visited these disciples, but one Apostle did not personally witness this meeting. “Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Jn. 20:24-25 (ESV). Seeing Jesus alive after such a cruel death was unbelievable; from this encounter Thomas gained the description of “Doubting Thomas.”
During our times of struggles, we should depend on the Holy Spirit to guide us to calmness using the examples of John the Baptist, the Apostles, and the cloud of witnesses that surround us. (Heb. 12:1). The Holy Sprit has provided so many ways the ease our concerns, but we must trust Him and ask Him for help.