Journal Entry ~ 12/20/18

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  - Isaiah 9:6

Wonderful Counselor. 

Life is challenging. It’s full of struggles and unexpected twists, and it can be incredibly difficult to keep pressing on when everything inside of you wants to quit. Daily pressures and decisions can cause us to want to crawl back right under the covers and ignore it all. Painful wounds can cause us to pull away from relationships. Loss and grief can cause us to feel like we’re drowning. Watching the news and considering the desperate state of this world can leave us just wanting to give up. Living in this broken world can not only steal our joy, but it can cause us to feel as if we’re very alone, trapped at the bottom of a pit. 

We need guidance to manage all of life’s questions and struggles so we turn to others for support. We need wisdom to make decisions, we need compassion and encouragement when we’ve been deeply wounded, we need someone to tell us how to process a deep hurt or a painful loss. Sometimes a friend or family member can help to give us some perspective or the wisdom to make a difficult decision, sometimes we can find the support and encouragement we need for the pain, but the relief from our angst is often only temporary. 

When we can’t find what we need in friends or family members, some of us turn to counselors, hoping a trained professional can help to bring us the peace of mind, the stability, the joy we long to know. The problem is that people living in this world will generally only give worldly advice. Worldly advice keeps our eyes fixed on worldly things, it places importance on the things this world values. When we try to follow that advice, when our perspective focuses on the world in front of us, and our hope is place in things of this world, we end up feeling empty and alone. We may feel lighter temporarily, but when we hold on to things that are fleeting, we end up tripping right back into that pit. 

But God. Our Savior knows us so well that He has given us a beautiful gift in the birth of His Son - He has given us a Wonderful Counselor. God, in His infinite wisdom, knew we needed help processing the struggles of this world, so before we even started to struggle, He gave the only Counselor that can bring us lasting Hope. What we need to manage in this world is an eternal perspective and a wisdom from above. 

When we are overwhelmed with the demands that this world throws at us, when we are heartbroken over what this world has taken from us, when we need to know how to move forward in a difficult situation, we need only to go to Him. He is the only Counselor we need. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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