Sheila Walsh - Holding on When You Want to Let Go: Clinging to Hope When Life Is Falling Apart

I feel so passionately about the message of this book. Life does not give us a quick fix, but God is always moving, always working. I see this now in ways Ive never understood before.... I have a six-word story now, and it became this book. Hold on and dont let go.

Sheila Walsh

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from Gods love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrownot even the powers of hell can separate us from Gods love. No power in the sky above or in the earth belowindeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:3839

AS WE BEGIN this study together, let me ask you a question: Has your life turned out the way you thought it would?

If youre anything like me, your answer is a resounding, No!

When I was twenty-one or even thirty-one years old, if someone had read me the script of what would come my way, I might very well have run for the hills or buried my head in the sand (and those would have been the reasonable options!).

Life has a habit of surprising us, doesnt it? And sometimes of knocking us flat on our backs. Considering the staggering unpredictability of life makes me grateful that, as the apostle Paul wrote, Our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed (2 Cor. 4:79).

Dont miss this:

Pressed but not crushed...

Perplexed but not driven to despair...

Hunted down but never abandoned...

Knocked down but not destroyed...

I believe this with all my heart. In Christ, we are more than conquerors; Romans 8:37 promises this. To be perfectly frank, however, there are days I feel more like the conquered than the conqueror. Can you relate?

If so, I invite you to journey deeper into the truths you read in Holding On When You Want to Let Go . In this companion guide, well walk together, looking more intently at what God has to say and taking time to connect with Him in study, worship, and prayer.

You may recall that at the end of each chapter in the book, I included three ways to hold on to hope. Every session of this study guide will take you deeper into these sets of key principles. Right now Id like to reintroduce you to the truths you learned in chapter 1, Holding On When Life Feels Out of Control:

1. We were not made to do life on our own; we need to let people into our stories.
2. Jesus is still writing your story, and He holds all the pieces.
3. No matter how things appear, God is in control.

Im eager to begin, so lets link arms and dive into our first truth.

It Is Not Good to Be Alone

When you look back on the year 2020, what do you remember? Masks? Social distancing? Protests and riots?

For many people, 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic became synonymous with profound loneliness. Some of us were isolated from our friends at church, work, or school; others were separated from their dearest loved ones. However isolated you felt, the pandemic experience brought to light a biblical principle that God highlighted several millennia ago: It is not good for the man to be alone (Gen. 2:18).

This stunning proclamation came after God had created a glorious world of sea, land, and sky, all teeming with life. With the advent of stars and planets, dragonflies and dolphins, God pronounced, It is good. And it was.

Then the Lord made man in His own image, filling Adam with dignity and divine purpose. Adam enjoyed unbroken fellowship with God in the garden He had designed. What could possibly be wrong with this picture? Our Lord identified only one thing as not good: isolation.

The man was not meant to be alone. And neither were you.

TRUTH #1: We were not made to do life on our own; we need to let people into our stories.

How do you respond to this truth? What thoughts or memories does it bring up for you? Take a moment to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal how you feel about needing others, then write your response in the space below.

In Holding On When You Want to Let Go , I shared a bit of my own pandemic experience with you. It was a difficult time for me, with thirty canceled speaking engagements, the financial insecurity those cancellations created, being separated from my son when he contracted the coronavirus, and the weight of anxiety that increased as the year dragged on. I also wrote about my journey out of that place. I discovered anew, as the verse with which I opened this session declares, that nothing can separate me from the love of God. Nothing.

I also relearned why God gave us so many one another statements in the Bible.