“Things will never change.”
“Nothing is going to get better.”
“I can’t do this.”
Those are some depressing thoughts, aren’t they? But oh how quickly they weasel their way into our thoughts and disguise their voice to sound like ours. And sometimes these thoughts actually become our own. These are the whispers of doubt that casts a shadow of hopelessness over our perspective, and can so quickly block the promise of God’s power to make things different, to make all things new.
Doubt keeps us from believing things can get better. Doubt convinces us that it’s not worth the try. Doubt shouts from the sidelines:
“It’s too hard.”
“You might as well quit.”
“Go ahead and give up. Just walk away. ”
I have found that doubt and hope cannot live in my heart at the same time. Without the possibility of hope for something different, the possibility of change – doubt wins every time. But I have also discovered that with Jesus, all things are possible and the most likely place for change – is within me!!!
A journey beyond the shadow of doubt will require faith and hope! So many times we are afraid to hope, afraid to believe, because we don’t want to be disappointed. But hope and faith will be required in this journey because “hope looks ahead and keeps desire alive.” Doubt on the other hand, looks down and refuses to take a next step forward.
Yet, the God of all hope calls us, beckons us, invites us to live beyond the shadow of doubt. And He declares:
“Things are about to change – see I am doing a new thing.”
“I am working all things together for good, because you love me and are called according to my purpose.”
“All things are possible for those who believe.”
As I pray and prepare my heart to write a book to help me and others LIVE beyond the shadows of doubt and experience the life-altering, hope-infusing, promise-keeping power found in the shadow of the Cross, I want to know where you’d like for us to go along the way, and where you hope we will end up at the end.
What would you want to see covered in a book like this?
Where do you hope to be on the other side of doubt?
In other words, what would you like your heart, your thoughts, your every day life to look like after you have taken your journey from the shadow of doubt into the shadow of the Cross?
I value your thoughts and really ponder your insights when you share them. You bring such amazing perspectives, and your answers will give me direction in knowing what will be the most valuable topics to cover in this book. So, please let me hear your thoughts by clicking “comments” below. Be sure to list your email so I can get in touch if you win.
As a thank you for all that you give to me, I want to give you the chance to receive something in return. Your comments on this post (and Monday’s post) will qualify you for the $20 gift card to Starbucks, Target or Wal-Mart (winner gets to choose) give-away tomorrow. Since this post is going up later in the day, I am going to bump the drawing time to Thursday at 9pm, EST, to give more time for comments and chances to win.
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Hi Renee – Oh my goodness, I’m getting so much out of your blog. I know I missed the drawing but that’s ok, I was wondering if the book if finished yet!? Just kidding, but I am very much looking forward to reading it.
I’m with Jami in that I struggle with trying to decide if and when to move forward with an idea when I don’t get clear direction from God. I spend a lot of time doubting that it is God’s will, especially if it is something I would love but seems too good for me.
I love your heart!
Thanks for telling us your personal journey through the tides of doubt but listening to God and being blessed. Doubt for me comes in the value of myself as a “good” Christian woman, wife and mother. I feel as if I will never measure up. I will never be like the women at church who seem to have it all together: they look great, serve faithfully in church, have many friends, etc. My prayer is that I continue to focus on my personal relationship with Jesus and know how special and loved by Him that I am. Thanks for asking. JD at [email protected]
T-R-U-S-T
When I’m in a mental doubt tug of war, this is the word that I say over and over to myself. Trust the Lord with all your heart…Trust me…
It helps my in a pinch moments.
Thanks again for your sweet comment on my blog. We are back from Disneyland (as of 3am this morning) I am looking forward to getting busy on that book proposal.
Will keep you posted.
Blessings, Joanne
Hi,
Doubt… such a joy robber. I think that I would love to see what doubt really robs us of. It causes such a chain reaction of other feelings and then actions that follow. Maybe a look into that and then the benefits of faith would be great. I don’t think that there is room for both in my heart.
Lynn
Great post. Hope. Yes, you are tugging my heart with that.
I found this quote on hope recently:
To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is no birth in our lifetime.
Erich Fromm
Hope is living expectantly. Even more than that, I think it is more and more placing my trust in God. Hope is not a feeling. Hope is not a wish. Hope is a relationship. Because it is a relationship, we do not become desperate. It’s Abraham being told he will be a great nation but waiting and waiting and waiting and then having one son with Sarah. He trusted that it would be a multitude even if it wasn’t in his lifetime. He trusted because He walked with God as a friend. Or rather, God walked with him as a friend.
Practically, I want it to lessen my anxiety in relationships and my fear of what people think. I believe and have seen that begin to free me up in so many ways.
I love that you are writing this.
Renee – I’m already blessed just by reading today’s blog. Again, can’t wait for your book! It was helpful to be reminded of God’s truth that you shared with just a few quotes of Scripture. I think that as women, we learn most when other women share their struggles AND victories with us. I would love for you to do just that. Your transparency and vulnerability in your writing and speaking are such a beautiful gift and would bless so many! Thank you!!! Praying God’s blessings upon your writing process. 🙂
I just recently “found” this verse in my quiet time, and think it very relevant to the topic of doubt. I Cor. 15:19 “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” This really speaks to me when I am tempted to doubt. I mean, who wants to be pitiful? Doubting makes me have a “pitiful hope.” That very thought is enough for me to dig my heels and and fight the good fight. Maybe its just my competative nature, but that really ministers to me. This may seem “off” to some, but I Thess. 5:8 speaks of using hope as the helmet of salvation. To me, that is my weapon against the enemy’s attacks on my mind. Thanks so much for all you do in the Lord.
In His love and hope,
Karan
[email protected]
I think the opposite of doubt is confidence. And not “Self” confidence, which focuses on self-esteem (esteeming one’s self.) But a God confidence that comes from esteeming God as who he is, and who we become in him.
I mean, I am nothing alone, but with God I am the daughter of a king.
Hi Renee!
I guess my biggest struggle is how do you decipher the difference between doubt and fear and God’s call to wait or go a different direction?
Does this make sense?
Hey Renee,
On the other side of doubt, I want to be stronger in my faith; more confident in my walk. We are more than conquerors!
I know my Lord loves me with all of His heart, but the devil has a way of making you doubt things that God has already set straight. I want to be better at discerning God’s truth from satan’s lies or half-truths.
I don’t want my doubts to hamper God using me. I don’t want my doubts to lead me to a place where I listen to them more than I listen to my Father. I don’t want to grieve the Lord with my doubts.
I don’t know if you have been keeping up with Joy’s posts over at http://princessjoyful.blogspot.com/, but I tell you what…she has made me wish that I was there to hear your message. I really would like a copy of the message if it’s ever made available.
Prayers and blessings,
Rebecca
hi renee…
first off…thank you, thank you for allowing God to minister thru you. I have not heard you speak in person but your blog blesses me time and time again.
for the book…scripture prayers and personal testimonies would be great. and just really getting the point across how much our thoughts have an affect on our lives and we need to keep them in captivity and get in the Word so our mind is full of that instead of doubt.
Be blessed knowing you are a beautiful daughter of the most High King.
In Christ….laura
My father always says this (as it pertains to any life situation that crops up to cause stress, doubt, unbelief, etc.).
“The best is yet to be. This “now” is simply training ground for that best.”
That’s where I want to be on the other side of doubt…
Living and breathing the truth of my Father’s words even as he lives them. Believing that God is, in fact, working all things out. I don’t want it to be God-speak. I want it to be my “life-speak.” I want it sown into the way I do life, everyday.
No fear. Only the embrace of the steps that present myself in the big and in the mundance. Simply living each day with kingdom perspective.
peace~elaine
Those words penetrate my soul.
As I hear the words “things are about to change” my doubt replies “ya, when? It’s been a year and my heart’s still broken and still consumed with this cloud of heartache. When I ask?”
I KNOW the Father is in the midst of my life. I know He is working. I know this is dependent upon His child (my beloved) allowing Him to move. It’s just so hard to hear message of God’s got something great. Yes, He’s done a miraculous change in my life and I’ve forever grateful that He’s brought me back to the Throne during this marital trial. I would not ask for my beloved back if it mean returning to where I was in my heart with Jesus. But I ask when will my heart stop yearning for what others have and what I had with beloved. When will my beloved see the light of Christ and know His Truth and not what the enemy has deceived him to believe. How can a Christian man be deceived so gravely by the dark one?
You know these depressing thoughts you mentioned come into my mind and at times penetrate my heart. I know them not to be true. I know the power of God. But after so many months and now over a year and no sign of God’s power changing His child, my beloved. I ask how long? I know it will come yet I still ask how long.
Wow, not sure from where all that came. I guess the Lord wanted me to share it from my heart.
If by a slim chance I win, you can click on my name and go to my blog to email me. Or my email is set up that you can simply reply to this comment.
In His Grip,
Paula
Renee,
I’m so glad you are writing this book. I would like to see the root causes of fear define and illustrated and then for each root cause the action or demonstration on how to overcome the root cause. It needs to be applicable so there are concrete steps that women can take to make changes in dealing with doubt. Personal stories and illustrations always drive the point home.
Doubt is just the mask that covers a slew of root causes. Doubt is such a big, ugly, and ambiguous word since it means different things to different people that is why getting the root cause could help your audience figure out what their triggers are that fosters doubt.
Put me in that boat because I struggle with doubt, too. God is the only one who can replace our doubt with boldness and courage.
God bless you during your writing process.
Tonya Mankin
[email protected]