Live With Eternal Perspective Podcast Episode 072

Welcome to the Terri Hitt – Live With Eternal Perspective Podcast
Episode #072 –Faith That Perseveres

Thank you for entrusting and investing your precious time with me to grow in Jesus together. I am blessed to be back with you to discuss more ways to live with eternal perspective.

Sometimes our best laid plans are not what God has crafted for us. Just as true is the opposite! What God offers to us is sometimes not our first choice. As I have walked the journey of podcasting, this is even clearer to me. It has been an honor to bow before the Lord weekly as I prayerfully consider topics, scriptures, and themes. As with everything in life, this podcast is held very loosely.

Joy fills me weekly, honestly, daily as I watch where the Lord takes me and what He requires of me. There have been days of union with Him where I feel His hand guiding every word crafted in the podcast. What a joy I have lived as I see Him work in me to continue forming me into an image more suited for Him, as well as allowing Him to humble me and lift me up into a new creation. There have been moments of absolutely nothing to say as I wait on Him to fill me with His presence and promise that a podcast will be provided. This was one of those weeks.

For the first time in 16 months, I had nothing to offer. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to say. Just ask my youngest, who always tells me that one of my best qualities is talking. Yet, by the grace of God, she also tells me that the quality she thinks I hold the best is the ability to love. I love the Lord and I deeply desire to only say on this podcast what I believe He calls me to. Thus, this week, I had to be patient. I had to wait. There was no doubt He would give me something to say. God’s timing is always pure. It is always present. It is always perfect. I wanted to wait until I knew for sure what God wanted my words to be this week.

As I have shared before, I always thought I was living with a heart for eternity. Until I lost my oldest daughter, I believed I was living the way God desired with a heart and mind fixed on Him. Yet, her death caused me to look so much deeper into life, death, and eternity. Which is one of the reasons I believe God called me to begin this podcast.

Where are you today? What is your viewpoint of eternity? Do you believe a single moment of your life is yours alone? God gives us time on earth. He fills our lives with blessings we rarely see for what they truly are. Even the air we breathe, the breaths we take, the ability to speak, to think, to walk, to bend over, to see, to hear, a safe bed to sleep in, a house to come home to, a family that loves us. Each one a blessing.

I know there are broken homes, families that are falling apart, bitterness, envy, strife, arguments, loss, and so much more in this world. Yet, when we turn our thinking inside out, we more closely match the way God thinks. Can I tell you all His thoughts? No! But I know they are not my own. His are not the reasoning or understanding we have, yet through our relationship with God through Jesus, we have the ability and the blessing to begin each moment to think and reason and act more like He does, more like He desires. Each problem we have can be conceived as a blessing. We must know God so well that we use each opportunity to draw us nearer to Him. How would He desire us to handle it? How would He call us to react? Where are we faltering? How can we stretch our faith and ability to trust that God has a plan and that nothing is a surprise to Him? If He is allowing us to go through it, there is opportunity for eyes and hearts to turn to Him because of it. If we are struggling because we are dealing with the repercussions of sin or mistakes, are we going to continue making the same ones or grasp this moment to shift our live onto a God-glorifying journey that changes self and others for eternity?

What can you do this day to begin anew in seeking to understand the world and others, the situation you may be living in, the way you respond to life, and so much more? This moment was crafted long ago. God knew you would come to it and He is waiting for you to surrender it to Him.

Beauty and sweetness abide in the bitter pain of surrender.

Look Up to the only One who can rescue and sustain you. Spend time with Him. Get in His word and converse with Him daily through prayers and listen for His voice. He will not lead you astray.

Place your hope and trust in Him.

Psalm 40:1-17 says,
“I waited patiently for the Lord;
He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me up from the pit of despair,
out of the miry clay;
He set my feet upon a rock,
and made my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the Lord.
Blessed is the man
who has made the Lord his trust,
who has not turned to the proud,
nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
Many, O Lord my God,
are the wonders You have done,
and the plans You have for us—
none can compare to You—
if I proclaim and declare them,
they are more than I can count.
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
but my ears You have opened.
Burnt offerings and sin offerings
You did not require.
Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll:
I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your law is within my heart.”
I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
behold, I do not seal my lips,
as You, O Lord, do know.
I have not covered up Your righteousness in my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and salvation;
I have not concealed Your loving devotion and faithfulness
from the great assembly.
O Lord, do not withhold Your mercy from me;
Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.
For evils without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart has failed within me.
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
hurry, O Lord, to help me.
May those who seek my life
be ashamed and confounded;
may those who wish me harm
be repelled and humiliated.
May those who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
be appalled at their own shame.
May all who seek You
rejoice and be glad in You;
May those who love Your salvation
always say, “The Lord be magnified!”
But I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my helper and deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.”


So much truth and hope in this passage of scriptures!

Blessed is the man who makes the Lord His trust.

The Lord’s thoughts of us are more than can be numbered.

The Lord is our help and deliverer.

Live each moment in expectation that God is present. He is prepared. He is personal.

Privately and publicly proclaim His goodness and faithfulness as you purposely grow your walk with Him.
Let others see the difference He makes in one surrendered life. There is none like Him.

Gracious and loving Heavenly Father. There is none like You. We thank you for Your goodness, Your presence in our lives. Lord, please make us to know our end, the measure of our days. Help us to remember our frailty and live with the knowledge that our days are as handbreadths. Our time is short. At our best, we are but vapor. Yet, you love us with an everlasting love. Help us to wait patiently for You. Enable us to hear Your calls for us and see our life as You do. May we honor You with the appreciation You are due for all the good gifts You allow in our life. May we see them with eyes, minds, and hearts that acknowledge Your goodness and grace and humbly extend it to others as You desire and call us to. Your loving kindness and truth is a precious gift to us. May we offer it back to You with humble spirits that allow the Holy Spirt free reign and may we thirst for You, our Living God, more than what this world offers so that our lives are a reflection of You. Help us keep a growing faith that shines to this empty world and draws others closer to You as we abide in Your arms. In Your precious name we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to this podcast. Please visit terrihitt.com to access podcast episodes housed in one convenient location, read blog posts, transcripts, and access additional resources designed to mature your walk with Jesus through an eternal perspective and encourage you to raise or influence children to choose Christ over culture.

I pray this podcast draws you nearer to God and helps you cling to Him, despite any circumstances in your life. Until next week, keep looking Up while focusing on ways to Live With Eternal Perspective.