Encouragement

God knew my heart needed encouragement this weekend.  I'm halfway done with chemo now, yes, but I'm just so tired of feeling sick and weak.  I'm tired of never knowing if what I put in my mouth will taste good or if it will make me sick.  I'm tired of getting to work and realizing I just used up all my energy getting there and now have nothing left with which to do my job.  I'm tired of all my plans needing to be tentative because I have no idea how I'll be feeling.  And the thought of inflicting two more months of this on myself has me feeling  pretty down.

God reminded me that I don't need to worry about how I will make it through two more months of chemo; I only need to focus on today.  "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt. 6:34).  God gives us our daily bread (Matt. 6:11), not bread for the next two months.  But still my heart needs encouraging.  It's a constant struggle to keep my mind from wandering toward the weeks ahead and dreading them.

So God sent me this message, from the hands of a special friend:

And here are the verses the references represent:

Isaiah 35:3-4: Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not."

Psalm 73:26: My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Isaiah 41:10: ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Ephesians 3:16: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.

2 Samuel 22:40: You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.

Psalm 28:7: The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.

1 Chronicles 16:11: Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually.

What strength these words breathed into me!  They rein in my anxious thoughts and rightly focus them on the God who is my deliverer and the lifter of my head.  Pray for me that I will remember these words, that they will be constant reminders to me of Whose power is at work in me.