Rest in Persevering and Promises (episode 25)

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Do you love a prodigal? Do you feel like you are lost in a scary and endless wilderness?

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Welcome to the When You Love a Prodigal podcast. I am Judy Douglass and I spent more than 15

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years in that wilderness. I believe together we will discover help and hope for your journey.

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So how have you done at letting go and giving thanks? It had been a challenging three years

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of foster care with our son when we first had him. So many residuals from his mother's

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drugs and alcohol, from his fetal alcohol syndrome, from his neglect from the abuse

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and other traumas of this boy's early childhood. So when the child services representative

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said that his mother's rights had been cancelled and he was up for adoption, did not we want

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to adopt him? Memories flash through my mind of a word from God years before. He said,

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I'm sending you a son. He will be a gift. Those three years hadn't felt very much like

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a gift as we talked as a family and recounted some of the hard things of having him in our

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home as a part of our family, how we had sought to love him and care for him. But in return

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we received mostly ingratitude, disrespect, lies, stealing, trouble at school. Our peaceful

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home had become chaotic. So emotionally, my husband, my daughters and I were not sure

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why would we sign up for more of what we had just experienced for three years for permanent

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chaos. But God's word came clearly. I told you I was sending you a son. Why would you

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reject my gift? So we said yes and we adopted him and there was rest in that obedience.

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And sure enough hope came. Surely now that he had the security of truly being a part

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of our family, that we would not abandon him, that he could believe that we really loved

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him, maybe he would connect with us and settle down and experience some peace. No, not to

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be. Middle school was a real wilderness. Teachers couldn't teach with him in the room so he

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spent most of his time in alternative classrooms. He caused disruptions on the school bus so

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finally he was banned from the bus. He was older and bigger than his classmates which

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gave him bully status. He joined a gang. The principal threatened expulsion. It didn't

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get better. It got worse. But then hope again. Desperate for help we put him in a Christian

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residential program near us. He was safe from his bad choices. That was really wonderful.

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He met Jesus there. He learned scripture. He got counseling. He came out a year and

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a half later determined to walk with God. Hope, hope, hope. But despair again because

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it only took him a few weeks to get back with his old friends. A driver's license gave

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him way too much freedom. He was caught up in skipping school, girls, drugs, alcohol,

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drug related activities. And for us it was this ongoing cycle of hope and despair. And

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I know you've been there because that's the life of someone who loves a prodigal. Our

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natural response, I just wanted to give up. I was out of hope. Nothing that we tried seemed

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to make a difference. And I said, I can't do this anymore. And people would say, no,

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just hang on. Hang in there. Don't give up. But hanging on is exhausting. But God said,

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no, not hanging on. Persevering is his word, his concept. He tells us in Hebrews 12, let

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us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us. Have you thought of that? That

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this journey with your prodigal is part of the race marked out for you. So persevere,

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fixing our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before him, do you know what the joy set

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before Jesus was? You and me? Relationship with us? That's why he went to the cross.

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For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning at shame. And he sat down

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at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners

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so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Jesus showed us how. He did it first so that

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we could find out that we can persevere. Also in Hebrews, we read, don't throw away your

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confidence. It will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done

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the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. There is rest when we persevere,

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when we keep going, when we take that right path that we talked about a couple of weeks

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ago. But be encouraged, God knows we can't do it. So he shows us how. He completely hangs

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in there with us, strengthening our grip, enabling us to endure, filling us with hope,

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covering us with his grace, flooding us with his peace. He perseveres with us so that we

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can persevere. So there's rest in persevering and there is also rest in the promises of

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God. God is a promise keeper, just as he said in the verses above. You will receive what

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he has promised. He has invited us to believe him, to trust that he keeps his word. Therefore,

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Hebrews 4 tells us, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, be careful that none

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of you be found to have fallen short. And how is that? By not obeying. Does he speak

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and not act, Numbers says? Does God speak and not act? No. Does he promise and not fulfill?

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No, he does not do that. In Psalm 119, it says, sustain me, my God, according to your

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promise and I will live. Do not let my hopes be dashed. How many times have your hopes

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been dashed? God says, trust me, I have promised that I will be there with you. And I love

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this in 2 Corinthians 1, for no matter how many promises God has made, they are, yes,

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in Christ Jesus. And so through him, the amen is spoken by us to the glory of God. All the

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promises that God has made are, yes, in Jesus. Deuteronomy says, know therefore that the

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Lord your God is God. He is faithful. The faithful God, keeping his covenant of love

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to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. I just love

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these affirmations that God is faithful, that he is a promise keeper. Psalm 145 says, the

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Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. However, I find that

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it seems like he's not keeping his word sometimes. I want to believe his promises, but I ask

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when? How? How is this going to change? Why are you allowing this, Lord? Because unfulfilled

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promises are exhausting and we grow weary. Here's a few things we can know about the

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promises of God, the answers to our prayers. First of all, his answers rarely look like

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what we had in mind. He's able to handle that, think about it, know what's right so much

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better than we are. And his plan, his right path, is always better than my plan. I've

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learned that over and over in my walk with God and certainly through my life with my

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prodigal. And here's a wonderful truth. He is working. He is always working on us even

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as he works on our prodigals. He's very efficient because he can take care of me and my prodigal

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through the same challenging situation. He is up to something bigger and better. And

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count on this, his timing is seldom our timing. Maybe I could say never our timing. Over the

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years with our prodigal, I read scripture and sought the Lord. I claimed promises from

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God for our son. And you say, did God say this is a promise for Josh? Well, sometimes

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sort of, but usually I would read scripture that reflected God at work in history with

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the children of Israel or things he wanted to happen for them. And I have over the years

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taken those promises and prayed them for my son, not claiming that God will do exactly

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what that says and what he did for the children of Israel, but knowing that this is God's

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heart to meet needs, to strengthen, to come around, to love, to be present with, to sustain

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everything that we need and our prodigals need. He wants to offer that. And so I take

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the words that God has spoken as promises and I pray them for my son. And here are some

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of them. Maybe they will speak to you or be something you would like to try. From Isaiah

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46, listen to me. I upheld you since you were conceived and have carried you since your

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birth. I will sustain you and rescue you. For a boy who was born to a drug addicted

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mom without a dad around and into poverty and abuse and all sorts of undesirable things,

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to hear this, I have upheld you since you were conceived. I have carried you since your

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birth. I will sustain you and rescue you. I've claimed that for our son many times.

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Isaiah 48, I am your Redeemer. I will teach you what is best, you know, that good path

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that God has provided. If you obey me, oh, I love this, your peace will be like a river

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and your well-being like the waves of the sea. And again, in Isaiah chapter 43, fear

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not for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine. And God does not

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abandon his own. Isaiah 41, I have called you. I have chosen you and have not rejected

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you. I will strengthen you and help you. And I love this in Ezekiel 36, I will give you

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a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will put my spirit in you and move you to

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follow my decrees. And when you don't even know if they're alive because you don't know

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where they are or if they will survive the choices they're making, Ezekiel 37 says, I

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will put breath in you and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

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And finally, this is in Joshua 1, 9, and my son's name is Joshua. So I've claimed this

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for him many times. Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified or discouraged, for I

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will be with you wherever you go. You know, our God has so much experience loving prodigals

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like you and me and our prodigals. He goes with us on this journey. He comforts us. He

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gives hope. He relieves our fears. And he gives rest for our weary bodies, our depleted

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energy, our tired minds, our exhausted emotions. He gives rest for our souls. Let's accept

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his amazing offer. It's in Matthew 11, 28. It is an amazing promise. Come to me, all

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you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Something to think about. When

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have you come to understand that God's answers rarely look like what you had in mind, but

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actually turned out better? How could that truth help you today? How could that bring

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rest to your soul? God bless you.

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Thank you for joining me today on the When You Love a Prodigal Podcast. If you enjoyed

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today's episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever

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you listen. Your review helps the show reach more people with the hope and encouragement

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of Jesus. Don't forget, take a look at the show notes. And for more helpful information,

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resources, and books, check out judydouglass.com. That's Douglass with two S's. You can find

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me on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram at JudyDouglass417. Until next week.