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By R.A. Mathews

It has been a very rough year.

Many lost treasured belongings to devastating weather conditions, while others returned to homes entirely gone. Worse yet, on Nov. 19, Fox Weather reported 261 deaths across seven states just from Hurricane Helene. The majority of the fatalities in North Carolina were from drowning.

Moreover, these news stories added to a year of economic defeat for millions of Americans, overwhelmed by inflation, struggling to make a house or car payment, wondering how to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Or your difficulties may be entirely different. It may be a debilitating illness or the unexpected passing of a close relative. I had numbing news last week, and my loved ones sought to crowd around me and make it better. But that was impossible. I wanted only one thing.

To go to the Rock.

I needed to climb up into the lap of my God, rest my head on His chest, and talk or not talk. And that’s what I did.

Soon enough, I felt Him say, “I will care for you.”

Every day thereafter, when I felt doubt rising, I turned back to the Rock. I also walked with Jesus through the pages of Luke’s Gospel, and I opened my book of miracles and read all that God has done for me.

If you haven’t started keeping a book of miracles, recording the moments you know God stepped into your life and helped you, I encourage you to do it now. It’s in times of hopelessness, that your book of miracles will comfort you. It will remind you that God is with you now as before.

Let me show you why keeping that book is so important.

Remember when God’s children left slavery in Egypt? The Red Sea parted for them and then closed upon the Egyptians. When they reached the shore and turned back, they saw the dead bodies. Here’s the passage:

“But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore,” (Exodus 14:29-30, NLT).

Moses then led God’s people in praise. Here it is.

“I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has thrown into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea” (Exodus 15:1-4, NASB).

An unforgettable moment!

Now read this passage. It’s what happened six weeks later.

“Then they set out from Elim, and . . . came to the wilderness of Sin… on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt… . The sons of Israel said… . “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger,” (Exodus 16:1-3, NASB).

The Hebrews wanted to go back.

With no food in sight, they lost all faith in their God of miracles. But the Lord rained bread from heaven and gave them meat until they were full. Here’s the passage:

“So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, . . . there was a fine flake-like thing… . And Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat,’” (Exodus 16:13-16).

God’s children didn’t need to turn back. They didn’t need to think all was lost. They only needed one thing.

To go to the Rock.

If life feels hopeless this Thanksgiving and Christmas season, turn to the Lord. It’s in times of struggle and heartache, when great challenges threaten, that you will experience your deepest and most profound moments with God.

Your time in the wilderness can bring you closer to God or, like the Hebrews, it can tear you from Him. Those who walked on dry land, who saw the Red Sea part, gave up on God in six weeks.

Remember what the Lord has done for you. In times of lost hope, go to the Rock.

I hope you have a blessed week.

The Rev. Mathews (BA, MDiv, JD) is a newspaper faith columnist and the author of the Reaching to God series and the mystery Emerald Coast: The Vendetta.  Contact her at Hello@RAMathews.com. Copyright © 2024 R.A. Mathews.