I headed for bed last night, feeling very overwhelmed. Bleak, really. Desperate and defeated, if you will.<\/p>\n
(Yeah, feelings are terrible liars sometimes; other times, frightful barometers and\/or thermometers.)<\/p>\n
So I reached for God and the Scriptures. He lifted my spirit (again), this time with this:<\/p>\n
There is a hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.<\/strong> \u2014Job 14:7.<\/p>\n
A bruised reed shall he not break. \u2014He restoreth my soul.Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. \u2014No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.<\/p>\n
Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. \u2014After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this.<\/p>\n
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.<\/p>\n
Isa. 42:3. -Psa. 23:3. II Cor. 7:10. -Heb. 12:11. Psa. 119:67. -Ezra 9:13. Mic. 7:8,9.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n