Your eyes flutter open after a restful sleep warmly tucked under the covers. You yawn, stretch, and take a deep sigh. But as your feet hit the cold, hard floor, reality comes flooding back to you.

In those blissful moments between sleep and waking, you almost forgot about the quarantine, the thousands of people fighting for their lives in hospitals, the grocery stores filled with frenzy, the isolation as we wait out this coronavirus storm.

As you take your first steps of the day, each step seems to bring with it a greater heaviness. You begin to dread the day. The uncertainty of when this will end makes the future look muddy. Filled with the stress of a future unknown, you feel a tightness in your chest, which fills you with even more worry. You begin to dread the day.

Hope in Hard Times

Have you felt this way recently? Dreading the future, frozen in fear? It’s hard to find peace in times of uncertainty, but we can thank God his peace is not contingent on certainty. God’s hope is here for us even in hard times. Even though things might feel uncertain, we can rest in the knowledge that our loving God has everything under control.

If you’re overwhelmed by thoughts of the future today, let’s take some time to anchor ourselves in the present moment and dig into God’s Word. Find a chair, grab a cup of tea, and pray through these verses of peace and hope with me:        

God, I’m overwhelmed. Some days feel grayer than others. Show me your hope.

May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit. — Romans 15:13 (GNTD)

Give me your supernatural peace. Fill me with a sense of calm through my body as I take deep breaths and read your Word.

The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. — Colossians 3:15 (GNTD)

Help me rely on your strength and goodness. I’m so thankful you have everything under control.

God is our shelter and strength,
    always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken
    and mountains fall into the ocean depths;
even if the seas roar and rage,
    and the hills are shaken by the violence. — Psalm 46:1-3 (GNTD)

Thank you for loving me amidst all this uncertainty. Show me your love each day and help me find joy in little things.

Our God is merciful and tender.
He will cause the bright dawn of salvation to rise on us
     and to shine from heaven on all those who live in the dark shadow of death,
    to guide our steps into the path of peace. — Luke 1:78-79 (GNTD)

Help me to have grace for myself when I’m overwhelmed. And remind me how to keep turning to your Word when I’m stressed. Amen.

Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you. — 1 Peter 5:7 (GNTD)