when hope is lost:

In today's stressful world filled with exams, work, heartfelt tragedies, as well as spending time with family and friends, we can simply forget God. It's not that we're trying to ignore God, but life can be busy. Today I was listening to Carrie Underwood's Jesus take the wheel and as always that stood out as a reminder of God's grace. The link to the lyrics is here: http://www.elyrics.net/read/c/carrie-underwood-lyrics/jesus-take-the-wheel-lyrics.html . Today I decided to research it, and I found out that it was based on a true car crash ( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1641183/posts ).

Now I know what you're thinking: why on earth would I let go of the steering wheel when my car is spinning on ice?
I was reading a blog today that pointed that out ( http://chalicechick.blogspot.com/2006/01/jesus-take-wheel.html ). I get where this person is coming from, but sometimes we're faced in situations where we don't have control. Sometimes we're placed in a car that we can't steer because of all the ice, but sometimes we're stuck watching someone dying and we can't do a thing about it, sometimes my mom has to deal with my little brother having strep-throat when she has a really important deadline for work.

I find the easiest times to get distracted from God is when we need God the most. When I was little I had to go to the bathroom in a grocery store, but my mom had my baby brother (he was then). I knew where the bathroom was so my mom sent me upstairs by myself, but she could see the floor from where she was standing. I liked elevators and insisted on going in it. The elevator was slow and I thought I was trapped in it! I started to panic and I totally forgot to pray because I was afraid I was going to die and that's all I could think about. In fact I was so scared I pushed the fire alarm button. I reasoned it would be a cry for help.....and pushing that button made me feel better, because I knew someone would help me. Even before anyone answered, pushing that button as a cry for help, made me feel better. Sometimes we're not going to get a quick fix, but we know that we can call God anytime and he will listen to our cry of help. Even if the pain doesn't go away, he'll help us through it and we know he will. I knew my mom would come (she did) and even if I was trapped I was confident she could help me. So how come we can't just push that button? How come we get so distracted?

Well I wouldn't have thought about pushing the button if it wasn't right in front of my nose at that moment. I was too worried. God is at work all the time, but sometimes we get so accustomed to it that we forget. And that's why we need little reminders daily. Things like putting a Christan song on your IPOD or having a prayer group with friends or reading the bible daily. Because it says that God hears your prayers in Jeremiah 29: 12 "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.", but if you don't call him for help and remember him, you won't get that inner peace. (Leviticus 26) ⁶ " 'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. ⁷ You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

This dosen't mean everything will be easy, but "tis grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved" (amazing grace) really is true. With God we never have to be afraid.