Hope is An Anchor to My Soul
We wanted kids after we got married and we began discussing the right time to have a family, however a doctor quickly destroyed our hope as he confirmed we weren’t going to be able to have children. As you can imagine I was distraught as a young, new wife. I needed hope.
A few months later, I was feeling ill, and to my surprise the doctor said it was a result of my being pregnant. I was elated – God once again showed how He was in control of things and not a person - no matter how credentialed. Being a mom at this particular time wasn’t part of my plan – but it was part of God’s plan. He has a plan and purpose for every human born as the Bible says in Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you – to give you a future and a hope, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.”
Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” A friend recently asked me what that really means – an anchor for the soul. Our soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions. God is an anchor for our soul which is our mind (what we think), our will (what we do) and our emotions (what we feel). These things don’t have to control us, or cause us to drift away from God’s steadfast hope and plan for our lives.
What does this mean if we think about anchors and ships? Huge ships are held to the sea floor many, many feet below by just a small metal anchor. Ships can weigh an average of 225,000 tons yet the anchor that holds them weighs just a few 100 tons. Anchors have sharp teeth on either side to grip the bottom of the ocean so that when storms come, the waves may surge and the waters may rise, but the ship remains secure. The ship may move side to side during storms, but it never leaves its location. The anchor holds the ship secure. Hope in Christ is our anchor. He keeps us steadfast when the storms of life come roaring in and try to sway us. We have to stay grounded in Christ because he’s the only true steadfast anchor.
So many people cling to other anchors in life such as substances like alcohol and drugs, other people, work, finances and many other things. When the alcohol fails to numb the pain, when the people leave or let us down, when the company goes under or we get fired, or we find our bank account empty, we quickly realize our hope was anchored to something other than Christ. The sting of reality hits and we can feel like we are at rock bottom.
We have to stay running the race with our eyes on Christ just like horses with blinders to protect us from fear and panic. We must continue to keep our focus on the path ahead that God has laid out for us. Situations and people will try to confuse us, but God is not the author of confusion. Just like when we remove the blinders from a horse in an uncertain situation, the horse panics. When we allow life’s challenges or difficult people to become our focus, then we let fear and panic creep in. We should look only to Christ and then we realize our strength is in him and not ourselves or the situation. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “The Lord doesn’t give me a spirit of fear, but of love, power and sound mind.”
Unfortunately, it can take tragedies in our lives for us to realize how fragile things are, and it can feel like a cold slap in the face when unforeseen events occur. But God is waiting for us to come back to Him so he can comfort us and give us wisdom and direction. We then realize that He is our anchor, and we can have hope that He alone will never leave us or forsake us.
When the night feels long, and we think we can’t go on due to a tragedy, we have to remember God is with us. If we can just see past the situation, we will soon one day look back and realize that we were never alone. When you do push through the hardships of the situation, you will be glad you held on to the precious plan in life that God has for you. The problem when you hear about people ending their lives too soon is because they didn’t hope for a better tomorrow or look past the situation. We have a captain of the ship who knows the plans He has for us just like the verse in Jeremiah states. We have to look up in the storms and hold our feet steadfast just as the anchor holds the ship. God is steadfast and our ship is secure.
I would encourage you when it feels like all is lost to pray unceasingly and ask God to remind you of the hope you have in Him if you have accepted Him as your Lord and Savior. If you don’t know Jesus, I would pray and ask Him to show you who He is and to wrap His arms around you supernaturally, so you feel His presence and peace. Some of the closest times I felt with the Lord have been during the most difficult times in my life. I know many others say the same. John 16:33 says, “In this world we will have trouble, but take heart God has overcome the world.”
Practical things you can do during difficult times are:
1. Find a positive friend or mentor to pray with you during challenging times to remind you to hold onto hope
2. If you enjoy spending time outdoors, take a walk and admire all that He has done
3. If you enjoy music play praise music and play it loud!
4. If you like to read - spend time in Psalm 18 or Psalm 91
5. Grab coffee with a friend and pray together
6. Call a prayer hotline when the night seems long
7. And my favorite - eat a pint of ice cream and pour out your heart to our loving God
Whatever it is, don’t give up - don’t lose hope. God loves you, has a plan for you and is always there to anchor you in any situation!