I Survived

I Survived

by Diana Scothorn

Jeremiah 31:1 says, “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. I will give them rest.”

We may go through things that are hard to bear and feel trapped in our hopeless situation, but if we put our hope in Jesus, we will not be disappointed in the outcome.

There have been times in my life I felt I would not make it out of my hopeless situation.  The regret of decisions and outcomes in my life caused overwhelming anxiety and exhaustion. However, when we rely on Jesus amid hopelessness, He will restore our hope.

Fear keeps us in a holding tank, guarded by the devil. However, if we…

…call on the Name of Jesus, He will answer. Romans 10:13 says, “Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Jesus can and will rescue us!

In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, God promises to restore the Israelites as He faithfully did in the past. Regardless of our hopeless situation, no matter what we’re going through, we can ask God to forgive us, and He will turn our lives back around.

There was a time in my life when I was so far removed from the place God intended I saw no way back. I lost my family to death, my marriage to betrayal, my home in a fire, and my sense of worth and purpose.

However, when we put our trust in Jesus, not our ability to rescue ourselves, He will give us GRACE in our season in the wilderness.  A wilderness is defined as a neglected, abandoned area.

Often if we feel lost without direction or, perhaps, abandoned, we can lose sight of Jesus. When Jesus is not the center of our life, we can slowly drift away without awareness.

Jeremiah 30:11: says, “I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of captivity.”  No matter how far we drift off or how lost our children may be, we are never too “far off” or “far gone” for the Lord to save us. His saving grace is a gift.

Ephesians 2:8  says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” We are justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption of Christ Jesus. (Romans3:24)

We may not deserve it, but God’s grace enables us to stand in His presence without guilt. Justification declares us righteous in the sight of God. His Grace defends us without reason to condemn us.

God’s grace is sufficient in our time of need, and His mercy is fresh and new every morning. We don’t have to have it all together for God to put us back together!  He will hold us up and carry us if necessary.

He will provide grace in our time of need. Although the Israelites faced hardship and death, those who preserved and survived found God’s grace kept them safe.

God’s grace not only kept them safe but restored their health and healed them of their emotional and physical wounds. (Jeremiah 30:17) In the end, God promised to rebuild their lives and place of dwelling.

In my younger years, I lived in the wilderness and wandered hopelessly from relationship to relationship, but I survived all the devil’s attacks by the grace of God.

Jeremiah 31:9 says, “I will cause them to walk by the rivers of water, in a straight way in which they will not stumble.”

When we preserve and decide never to give in to the devil’s attacks, we will not only survive; we will arrive in the place God has prepared and promised!

My life is 100% restored, and I am where God promised He would take me. I am happily married, serving the Lord with my husband, my family restored, and my life redeemed!

I survived the sword in the wilderness! God will give us the grace to endure, and our steps can be secure- when we place our faith in the gift of God’s grace. We may be under attack, and opposition is coming from every direction, but we can survive and arrive at our promised destination by the grace of God.