EP 6 Hope in the Hard Times - Laura Watson and Veronica Scott

After a decade of gathering women together for prayer, we are inspired to bring our words of encouragement to you. This is iRefresh. But kind of our main theme that we're going for tonight or we're going to really kind of talk about the most is hope and thankfulness, thanksgiving. How many of us, it always seems like there's a season or maybe we're in a season now where hope is hard to hold on to. I mean, hope is is hard to maintain. It's hard to continue to hold on to it. And. Just from my perspective, my story, this last year, probably a year and I don't know how many months, I stopped counting. But it has not been a very good year in the natural. It has not been a very good year. Pleasant, it has not been fruitful, it's not been good. It's almost like that thing of, I see a thing of, have you ever played Django where you put all the blocks and you build them on top of each other and you think you've got this good looking structure going and then you move one piece and it kind of all tumbles down and then you're looking at this mass and you're like, okay, what do I do with this? Where do I go from here? How do I rebuild this? So that's kind of been... The season where I'm at. But, but my hope is in the Lord, right? We trust in the Lord. Our hope is in the word. His promises for me are yes and amen. And I have his word to stand on. And so even in the midst of all this, of things just falling, You know, at first, my initial reaction, you get weary, you get a little tired, you know, kind of drained. And you're like, okay, you know, you feel like, can I take one more blow, one more blow? And so my initial reaction, and I think kind of our, mine at least, was... at first it was like, okay, Lord, can you stop the storms? You know, Lord, can you stop the storms? Can you stop, you know, the next thing coming? Can you, you know, can you please just cease and desist? And, you know, and as I was kind of going through this and walking through the season, I really felt the Lord saying, You know, it's not so much asking me to stop or to prevent them from happening, but how can I allow him to change me and my perspective and my perception of where I'm at and what I'm going through? And so that's really what he's been working on me about is changing my perspective and looking at it from a different angle. And when I say looking at it from a different angle, your lens becomes the word of God. And it's like that's what I used to measure. And that's why I say, yes, in the natural, this is what it looks like. But your word says that. This, your word says, this is your promise. And this is, you will work all things for the good of those who are called according to your purpose. And however this ball of Jenga blocks looks right now, he's going to bring something good out of it. No matter what it looks like in the natural, he's going to work something good out of it. And one of the scriptures that I really meditated on and stood on was Philippians 4, 6. Whereas do not be anxious for anything, but in every situation by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to make your requests known to God. He knows my circumstances. He knows my situations. But I have to come with him in prayer and supplication, being prone before the Lord and asking for his will to be done. And with thanksgiving, making my requests known to the Lord. So my hope is. is in the Lord. My hope is in his word. My hope is in his promise. And yes, it is. I've learned to, to get that release from feeling guilty, you know, when I do get weary or when I'm like, okay, Lord, I am at the end of my rope today. I do not have much hope today. You know, you're going to have to help me hang on. You're going to have to help build me back up. You're going to have to help strengthen me. So yeah, I mean, it, and it's, I'm okay with that. He knows no matter if I say it or I don't, he knows where I'm at. He knows my heart. He knows what I'm thinking. So yes. Anyway. I agree. Well, as Laura and I were talking, one of the stories in the Old Testament that came to me was in 2 Kings. with Hezekiah. And Hezekiah was a king at 25 years old. He was the king of Jerusalem. Here he was, the king, for 29 years. He ruled and reigned. And the amazing thing about Hezekiah's reign is when he became king, the first thing he did is tore down all the idols and removed all the pagan worship from the previous kingdoms. and took the people back to the God of Israel, the God of David, his ancestor, and said, this is the one true God. This is who we're going to serve. And in serving, he had such opportunity to teach the people to look to the Lord as their source. And so when Laura was sharing with me, I'm like, you know, this reminds me of Hezekiah. When the people were in a battle, they saw the king of Assyria coming through the land, taking one kingdom after another, after another, after another. And he was threatening their kingdom and saying, you know what? You're next. I'm coming. I'm going to take over. So he said to the people, go ahead and leave now. Just come on with me. I'll give you food. I'll give you a place to sleep. Provision. Provision. Right. Don't listen to King Hezekiah. He's telling you that God's going to save you. But these other gods didn't save these other kings. So why would you trust that? But Hezekiah told the people, don't answer him. And there is a message right there. Because the enemy is the one that is in your mind, in your ear, in your heart, saying, just give up. It's too much. You know, when your blocks have all fallen and it's a big pile, and you're looking at the pile and saying, how can anything good come out of this? It's the enemy that's saying to you, nothing good. So just give up now. But what the king told his people, don't respond. Be quiet. And in the quietness, then the Lord sent the prophet to the king, Hezekiah. He sent Isaiah to him. And Isaiah said... Because you have gotten so focused on what you've done, you haven't given God the honor that he deserves, you now will die. You will get sick and you will die. Get your affairs in order because this is the end of your life. Hezekiah took that message and here's what I love about the story, he did not blame God. He did not lash out at God for sending the prophet or the prophet. But instead, what he did is he turned his face and his heart to the Lord. And he cried. The Bible says he wept earnestly before the Lord and repented and said, Lord, save my kingdom. Look what all I have done for you. I have served you. I have taught the people about you. I have worshipped and honored you for the 29 years that I've been in the kingdom. And the Lord heard his cry. And before, the Bible says in chapter 20, before Isaiah got out of the courtyard, the Lord spoke to him and said, turn around and go back and tell Hezekiah, I heard his cry and I'm gonna give him 15 more years. And that, to me, is such the story. Because he took the circumstances, and he didn't let the circumstances dictate his future. Or define his future. And they didn't define, you're right. Instead, he went to the Lord. And, you know, the years, Laura and I were discussing before we began this, how many years we've been with iRefresh, how many different opportunities we've had to pray with ladies, all situations, some very desperate, some very dire. We have one friend that we have been praying with for, how long would you say? Oh my goodness, at least eight? Eight years maybe, and when I met her for the first time was because she came to prayer. For an iRefresh meeting. It was an iRefresh meeting, and it was a dire prayer. It was, I need God to show up. And she continued to come and ask for prayer. But what she taught me was that she wasn't coming saying, I want an answer. She was coming and saying, I need agreement. I need prayer. I know God's my answer. But I need you to pray with me because I'm praying all that I know. And I'm getting weary. And that's when I love what Laura said because God knows where we are. We don't have to tell him or we don't have to not tell him because he knows where we are. And I have watched this lady stand in the midst of so many circumstances that were hopelessness. And it reminds me of Moses. Even Moses, when he was praying, he grew so weary that it's like, was it Aaron and her that had to help hold up his arms? It wasn't that he stopped praying. It's sometimes you need help and somebody to stand with you and to agree with you. And just to remind you sometimes even of God's promises and of what his word says. And yeah, so I think that's really important. She did that. It's like she came and it was more of I know what the word says. This is what I'm praying for. This is what I'm contending for. Right. But I need someone to help hold my arms. Yes. And, you know, that was a discussion that Cheryl and I had. And talking about her situation, we all had times where we listened to her request. We all had times where we were willing to agree with her and to stand with her. So then when her battle started turning around, it wasn't a slow turnaround. God has shown up for her so suddenly. Mm-hmm. She has everything that she has asked us to pray for. God has turned and answered. And now, today, she is out of the country ministering for the Lord, singing and preaching into people's lives. in another country, all because she knew God was her answer. She knew that he was doing a mighty work in her in the midst of her journey. And so when I shared that with Cheryl, she was asking, can you share that? Because I think as the body of Christ, sometimes we feel guilty when we ask for prayer more than once. We hear the same thing more than once or like, you know, we think you walk in the door and they're like, they're going to be like, oh my gosh, not again. We're going to pray for the same thing. You know, we're going to, and, but you know, that's what we're here for. That's what the body is here for is to encourage and to edify and to build one another up and to help hold your arms up while you're contending and you're standing for a breakthrough. I mean, that's, that's our purpose. Part of our purpose is to do that. Yes. And it's a privilege. It truly is. But what, you know, these stories, what they teach us, it builds our faith. And that's the other side of it, is when you serve the Lord, it doesn't come without getting something back. And so what he does is he builds our faith. So when we hear our friends that have their trial, you know, what does the word say in James? When the various trials and tribulations come upon you and the message says, do not wish them to end prematurely. But instead realize they are allowed for the perfecting of the saints. And when we look at, and that's what Laura reminded me of when she was telling me her story. And I said, I love what you just said to me is exactly what James 1 says. You realize that these trials and tribulations, instead of asking the Lord to stop them or don't let another one happen, she turned to the Lord and said, Lord, change me. change the way I'm coming to you so that I can grow through this. And that's the beauty of the Christian walk is we come out stronger. It's the beauty of an intimate walk with the Lord. It's the beauty of having a relationship with him and spending time with him and reading his word. Um, because the more you do, the, the more it does change your perspective of the situation you're in, the more it does change your perspective of the circumstances or, you know, the battle that you're in, or even your approach to the situation and the circumstances that you have going on. Yes. And we were talking about, you know, thankfulness and hope. And, you know, just last week, our pastor was talking to the church body about, you know, what do you do with depression and anxiety and, you know, panic attacks when people have those that come upon? You know, the body of Christ does not have to accept those. But instead, those are counterfeits that the enemy sends to the body of Christ. He sends that to you to destroy you. But one of our friends put on Facebook, I read it just yesterday, and I was like, that is the best message. And it was basically saying from a, was it a psychiatrist or psychologist? that said instead of taking what the enemy's telling you in your ear and in your mind that takes you into depression and into anxiousness, be thankful. And when you are thankful, write down, that was the prescription she gave, write down what you're thankful for. And then that renews your mind. Now the enemy has no hold on you. Because he cannot get you to deep into that depression or deep into that anxiety when you're being grateful. It changes your focus. Exactly. It changes your focus. I found for me it changes my focus. It's not on what's going on, but it's on who my God is and what I know he can do and he is doing. And, you know, I, we were even talking and I saw something similar on Facebook and it was, I don't, I haven't gotten on it very often lately because I've been really busy as tax season, but, um, I did see something. It was very simple and it was like, um. And at first I thought it was kind of corny, but you know, anyway, it ended up ministering to me. So it was one of those things where it was like, if you wake up tomorrow and all you had was what you were thankful for today, what would you have? And it just, for me, that changed my focus. And it's like, okay, I'm not going to focus on what has gone wrong or, you know, oh, my gosh, one more thing to, you know. But more of, Lord, look at all the things that you have blessed me with. Look. at all the many things that I had that you have given me and that you have blessed me with. And so for me, it changes my focus. I mean, it, it refocus, it changes your perspective and it, like my perspective becomes more heavenly. It becomes more on who my God is and who I know I am in the Lord, who he has made me to be, who he has purposed me to be. And when I think you shift to that Thanksgiving, And just like the scripture says, you're making your prayers and supplications known to the Lord, but you do it with thanksgiving. Because when you do it with thanksgiving, it changes your focus. And I think it renews that hope. And it restores hope back. Because, you know, sometimes it's a struggle to maintain the hope. And sometimes it's, we have to be purposeful on shifting onto the thankfulness as opposed to the circumstances. Right. And that was really the key. It's purposeful. You know, we get to choose. And that's the beauty of the relationship we have with Jesus is he lets us choose. Always. Choose who you will serve. Choose to be thankful. Choose to be grateful. And you choose to spend time in the Word. You choose to, you know, enter in his courts with praise. You choose... to decree and declare his promises and decree and declare the things that you know he has spoken in your heart, the scriptures he has given you, and not only for you but for your family, for your friends, for others as well because, you know, that's part of shifting your perspective is to pray for others because someone even reminded me of Job. His breakthrough came when he started praying for other people. And so it was changing, shifting that focus, shifting that perspective. And when you shift it off, for me, when I shifted off my problems and circumstances, it does restore that hope and it renews that thanksgiving and it just sparks something inside of you. And you start seeing that out of this jumble of blocks, you know, all the many options that God can build out of that. Yes. And I don't want it to look the same as it did before. Yes. I want it to look how he wants it to look. Yes. Yes. Because it's going to be for his purpose. Amen. In his design and not for mine. Yes. That's good. I agree. I agree. So we're grateful that you're here tonight. We're grateful that you have come to hear what the Lord has for you. You know, as we were discussing, we just believe that this tonight was God inspired, that this is the message that He had for each of you. You know, and we are just sharing with you our stories and you have your story. And the beauty is, is when we go through these times in our lives, We're building a story. And our story, your story, will help somebody else. Because it becomes your testimony. And the word says, Revelation says, they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Yes. And I think a lot of times when we walk through something or we go through a battle and we come out, I think it gives us a greater anointing to pray for someone else who's also going through that battle or who's going through something similar. Yes. I think it just gives us a new anointing and a new authority, you know, because we've overcome. And so you want to help somebody else overcome. So we are so happy to see you guys here tonight. And we're excited for prayer time. We want to encourage and edify and build each one of you up. And we want to come into agreement with you for what you're standing for. And just to encourage and push you on as well into what the Lord has called you to do. Amen. you