Millions of people didn’t expect to be out of a job. Or struggling to pay bills and buy food. Just two months ago, the coronavirus seemed so far away.
More than 20 million Americans have filed for unemployment in the last four weeks. This financial hardship is causing depression and anxiety.
To keep negative thoughts at bay and avoid the downward spiral that follows, keep your focus on God’s promises.
>> Scroll through this article to see God’s promises.
In the Bible, God said this in Matthew 6:25-27:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”
Will Graham, vice president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), assured that God is watching over us. Referencing the promise in Philippians 4:19, Graham said, “God’s going to take care of our need.”
In these ever-changing circumstances, Will Graham is encouraging people to rely on God—who is unchanging.
“You may not have all the answers but you’ve got something inside of you that says, ‘It’s going to be OK. God’s with me. I’ll get through this.’”
Billy Graham once wrote how we can attest to God’s faithfulness by looking at the Biblical story of Job:
“I often think of Job in the Old Testament. God had blessed him with health, prosperity, and a loving family—but almost overnight it all was taken away. People urged him to turn against God—but he refused, because he knew God had not abandoned him, in spite of his confusion over what had happened. He told them, ‘Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ (Job 2:10). In time God restored what he had lost.”
How can you stay positive while you wait?
• Pray, and pray some more.
• Read the Bible, starting in John.
• Call your family and friends to hear their voice.
• FaceTime or chat with others through a video call, and actually “see” their faces.
• Volunteer. By helping others, you take the focus off your own problems. The BGEA’s online evangelism ministry—Search for Jesus, has opportunities to share God’s hope from home.
The time of waiting to get back to work can be long, but take heart: God loves you and hasn’t forgotten about you.
Read and repeat His promises throughout the day. Write them on note cards and tape them up around your house.
The Bible states in Isaiah 26:3: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
After this crisis is over, you can reflect on the small things, that were actually big things.
“You’ll find out God just does little miracles in your life to get you through to the next day and the next week and to the next month and the next year and so on,” Will Graham said.
“You’ll look back and say, ‘Financially this doesn’t make sense. I didn’t make enough money but I paid all the bills.’ And somehow God provided a way for you to do it.”
Do you need God’s peace? Find it here.
>> Need prayer or encouragement? Call the BGEA Prayer Line free at 1-833-652-5930.
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