Finding Hope
(Sermon)
Written by Katerina N Clark 07/10/2013
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you."
I think that verse is very powerful and anyone listening or reading this right now I hope it speaks to you as it did to me. God is pretty much saying he has a future planned for you, trust in him for he knows what he is doing. He'd never want to hurt us even though sometimes we feel like he is hurting us. Just remember God is making you stronger, you're growing, you're changing and you're learning. If we don't feel pain or sadness then we will never truly know the meaning of happiness. My favourite song the people at church play is "Salvation Is Here." I love that song. The part where they sing "I know his word never fails, I know my God made a way for me." Its just so meaningful. If you really dig deep behind these words you can find so much power, hope and love. I believe things happen for a reason and it took me a long time to accept and realise that we don't always have the answers for the things that happen in our lives. I'm going to tell you a quick story about me losing a friend and how angry I was at God at one point in my life. So, one of my best friends passed away back in 2011 due to brain cancer. I knew her for over 8 years, we did everything together. Played football, shared each other's pens and paper in class, ate lunch together, watched scary movies at her house and we even went to a Westlife concert. I was living in America at the time she became ill. No one really knew how serious it was, I was expecting her to jump on Facebook and finish off our last convocation but we never did.Two weeks passed and the whole time her family and friends were updating me with how she was going. It seemed to get worse but I never ever thought she would die. I've never had a friend so close to me die and especially at such a young age. We just don't think of these things. I always thought the only people I'd see die would be my grandparents and then my parents later on when I'm old, but that wasn't the case here. My friend Anna passed away on the 19th of April 2011. I found out about Anna's death via email. My heart sunk to my stomach, I fell over and just cried and I remember screaming "No! No!" It was unbelievable. What made it even worse was that I was half way around the world. I wasn't able to make it to the funeral, and I really wanted to go home and be with my family and friends. I knew if I went home I wouldn't return to America. My friends kept saying, "Stay, Anna wouldn't have wanted you to leave. You're living your dream!" Though I couldn't help but feel guilty for not being there. From that day on I pulled away from God. Only slowly but I could feel myself becoming very distant with him. I use to go to church, I use to sing, I was proud to praise God but I haven't stepped foot into a church for almost two and a half years. As much as I tried to find peace and forgiveness, I was so angry at God for taking my friend and at a time when I couldn't be there. I also became angry at myself.
I pick up a lot of quotes from movies and I'm always writing my own quotes and poems but I love this quote from the movie 'Charlie St. Cloud'
"I hurt as bad as the day you died."
"-You hurt because you're alive."
It took me awhile to realise why I loved that movie so much, there was this kind of connection I had towards the character Charlie but not just because Zac Efron was in it and that he's totally good looking but because I knew how Charlie felt after losing his brother. He never let go, he was too afraid to let go. I mean, "how do we let go of someone we really care for, just for them to be happy?" I couldn't let go of the fact that Anna was gone, she was my friend. We made a deal to have fish n chips on the beach when I got home from America.... I was angry at God for a good two years, but come end of 2013 I started to find peace with him and find an understanding of why he took a life so soon.
Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."
So I'm here today saying I have forgiven God, and I've asked him to forgive me. I've realised I can't go on living life like this, and not having him in my heart. Although another long-time friend of mine passed away in April 2013 I knew that it would challenge me and it did. But I pushed through and promised myself I wouldn't push God away again. I remember crying for help, I cried for peace in my heart and I cried for hope.
Psalm 29:11 "The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace."
A word that has been popping up a lot in my mind and everywhere I look is the word, Hope. I know it's God speaking to me, telling me to have hope. Trust in the Lord, no matter what you face, no matter how dark your days may seem, you just have to have hope. Grab onto hope and don't let it go. There came a time in my life where I became ill and ended up in hospital, but I won't go into detail as only my family and friends know what happened. The point here is that the doctors wanted me to take medication but I refused as I wanted to prove to people that with the love of Jesus Christ that there is a way through the darkness. I want to inspire people and for them to know that whatever we feel, if your feeling sad or angry or lonely that there is a way through it, we can learn and grow from our experiences. I wanted to prove that with having a bit of hope we can find peace and live a happy life. So to anyone right now, who is struggling with life, who is being bullied, anyone who is thinking of taking their own life, if your feeling lost, if you have lost someone close to you to know that there is hope. Hope of a brighter future. There is someone who wants to help you, and I want to help you! I want to encourage you to turn to God for help as well. Close your eyes and pray, cry and pray, he will listen. We will never truly understand why bad things happen but we have to think and look deeper and ask ourselves, is it really a bad thing? These events that, 'at the time' seem like it's the end of the world, are they really bad? Or is it God speaking to us? Be patient, have courage and faith. Believe that God has a life planned for all of us, and things we may face that hurt us only makes us stronger. When you are ready he will give you answers. All I've ever wanted to do is help people, save people. Make people happy. But I needed to save myself first, I need to be ready for what God has planned for me, he needs me to be strong and focused.
Psalm 34:18 "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves thoses who are crushed in spirit"
Even if we feel sometimes God isn't listening or he isn't near, we have to know that he is. He is always with us, he always hears our prayers. I mean I can say I've been through so much in my short life, I've experience a moment where there was no hope, no light and no love. I've felt anger and hate but to an extreme where I could have died. I know what it feels like to be a 'nobody', to have no hope, see no light and feel no love. But I'm here today! I got through it, I searched for hope and I found it, through my family, my friends and God but also within me. Remember to search for hope, it's only a prayer away.
(Sermon)
Written by Katerina N Clark 07/10/2013
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you."
I think that verse is very powerful and anyone listening or reading this right now I hope it speaks to you as it did to me. God is pretty much saying he has a future planned for you, trust in him for he knows what he is doing. He'd never want to hurt us even though sometimes we feel like he is hurting us. Just remember God is making you stronger, you're growing, you're changing and you're learning. If we don't feel pain or sadness then we will never truly know the meaning of happiness. My favourite song the people at church play is "Salvation Is Here." I love that song. The part where they sing "I know his word never fails, I know my God made a way for me." Its just so meaningful. If you really dig deep behind these words you can find so much power, hope and love. I believe things happen for a reason and it took me a long time to accept and realise that we don't always have the answers for the things that happen in our lives. I'm going to tell you a quick story about me losing a friend and how angry I was at God at one point in my life. So, one of my best friends passed away back in 2011 due to brain cancer. I knew her for over 8 years, we did everything together. Played football, shared each other's pens and paper in class, ate lunch together, watched scary movies at her house and we even went to a Westlife concert. I was living in America at the time she became ill. No one really knew how serious it was, I was expecting her to jump on Facebook and finish off our last convocation but we never did.Two weeks passed and the whole time her family and friends were updating me with how she was going. It seemed to get worse but I never ever thought she would die. I've never had a friend so close to me die and especially at such a young age. We just don't think of these things. I always thought the only people I'd see die would be my grandparents and then my parents later on when I'm old, but that wasn't the case here. My friend Anna passed away on the 19th of April 2011. I found out about Anna's death via email. My heart sunk to my stomach, I fell over and just cried and I remember screaming "No! No!" It was unbelievable. What made it even worse was that I was half way around the world. I wasn't able to make it to the funeral, and I really wanted to go home and be with my family and friends. I knew if I went home I wouldn't return to America. My friends kept saying, "Stay, Anna wouldn't have wanted you to leave. You're living your dream!" Though I couldn't help but feel guilty for not being there. From that day on I pulled away from God. Only slowly but I could feel myself becoming very distant with him. I use to go to church, I use to sing, I was proud to praise God but I haven't stepped foot into a church for almost two and a half years. As much as I tried to find peace and forgiveness, I was so angry at God for taking my friend and at a time when I couldn't be there. I also became angry at myself.
I pick up a lot of quotes from movies and I'm always writing my own quotes and poems but I love this quote from the movie 'Charlie St. Cloud'
"I hurt as bad as the day you died."
"-You hurt because you're alive."
It took me awhile to realise why I loved that movie so much, there was this kind of connection I had towards the character Charlie but not just because Zac Efron was in it and that he's totally good looking but because I knew how Charlie felt after losing his brother. He never let go, he was too afraid to let go. I mean, "how do we let go of someone we really care for, just for them to be happy?" I couldn't let go of the fact that Anna was gone, she was my friend. We made a deal to have fish n chips on the beach when I got home from America.... I was angry at God for a good two years, but come end of 2013 I started to find peace with him and find an understanding of why he took a life so soon.
Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."
So I'm here today saying I have forgiven God, and I've asked him to forgive me. I've realised I can't go on living life like this, and not having him in my heart. Although another long-time friend of mine passed away in April 2013 I knew that it would challenge me and it did. But I pushed through and promised myself I wouldn't push God away again. I remember crying for help, I cried for peace in my heart and I cried for hope.
Psalm 29:11 "The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace."
A word that has been popping up a lot in my mind and everywhere I look is the word, Hope. I know it's God speaking to me, telling me to have hope. Trust in the Lord, no matter what you face, no matter how dark your days may seem, you just have to have hope. Grab onto hope and don't let it go. There came a time in my life where I became ill and ended up in hospital, but I won't go into detail as only my family and friends know what happened. The point here is that the doctors wanted me to take medication but I refused as I wanted to prove to people that with the love of Jesus Christ that there is a way through the darkness. I want to inspire people and for them to know that whatever we feel, if your feeling sad or angry or lonely that there is a way through it, we can learn and grow from our experiences. I wanted to prove that with having a bit of hope we can find peace and live a happy life. So to anyone right now, who is struggling with life, who is being bullied, anyone who is thinking of taking their own life, if your feeling lost, if you have lost someone close to you to know that there is hope. Hope of a brighter future. There is someone who wants to help you, and I want to help you! I want to encourage you to turn to God for help as well. Close your eyes and pray, cry and pray, he will listen. We will never truly understand why bad things happen but we have to think and look deeper and ask ourselves, is it really a bad thing? These events that, 'at the time' seem like it's the end of the world, are they really bad? Or is it God speaking to us? Be patient, have courage and faith. Believe that God has a life planned for all of us, and things we may face that hurt us only makes us stronger. When you are ready he will give you answers. All I've ever wanted to do is help people, save people. Make people happy. But I needed to save myself first, I need to be ready for what God has planned for me, he needs me to be strong and focused.
Psalm 34:18 "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves thoses who are crushed in spirit"
Even if we feel sometimes God isn't listening or he isn't near, we have to know that he is. He is always with us, he always hears our prayers. I mean I can say I've been through so much in my short life, I've experience a moment where there was no hope, no light and no love. I've felt anger and hate but to an extreme where I could have died. I know what it feels like to be a 'nobody', to have no hope, see no light and feel no love. But I'm here today! I got through it, I searched for hope and I found it, through my family, my friends and God but also within me. Remember to search for hope, it's only a prayer away.