How do you overcome hardships in your life?
This is a sermon based on the “Footprints in the Sand” poem typically focuses on the idea that even during life’s most difficult moments, God is always present, carrying us through hardships when we feel most alone.
Let’s read it…
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
“Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it, “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times of my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me.” The Lord replied, “My precious, precious child. I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
He whispered, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”
Footprints-
Far too often, people have said to me throughout the years that God does not give us more than we can handle. Let’s examine that statement!
If you believe this is true let me challenge your thoughts and please allow the Holy Ghost to give you the truth.
I have come to realize with experience, the footprints in the sand, and direction from the Holy Spirit: that the statement: “that God does not give us more than we can handle.” -is far from the truth!
Think about the poem titled Footprints in the Sand. If God did not give us more than we could handle, then we would not need Him?We, simply, would be able to handle it all by ourselves. How can we be carried by Jesus if we are not given more to handle then we can bare? We must be loaded up with lessons to learn, trials and tribulations to the point of dropping to our knees from exhaustion that we need to be carried by the one and only that could carry us: God! God will give us the strength to make the goal or over the finish line in life. He will carry us when we can no longer carry our heavy loads and burdens. Let God support you and me with His love for us!
Often we go through difficult and hard situations and don’t have a sense of God being present. However, when we look back through the hard times we can often see God’s hand at work. We may not realize it in the moment, but looking back we can see where God has guided and how He has helped us overcome.
A still small voice of God in our minds tries to work with each of us as our own personal conscience. When we listen to our conscience things turn out alright, but when we ignore it many terrible consequences happen. He may put a positive song in our head for us to remember. He may also put a passage from a book or a poem that will give us a message. God will sometimes send people we know or a stranger to tell us what we need to know. Try to be thankful when thinking of those times we were distraught. Remember that we didn’t fail the tasks that required our brain to focus. Thank our God in heaven for carrying us through the toughest times by giving us strength to stand. When God helps us, one way to thank Him is to acknowledge Him. We can get to know Him by reading the Bible to understand more about life, and what He wants to do for each of us.
Life can be really hard to deal with, but God will never leave us!
