Isaiah 55:8-9 (New International Version): “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
My brother/sister in Christ, we may not understand His ways, but believe me, we can trust His heart. You are in the middle of His plan for you now, His purpose, and you don’t see any good reason for it. It makes you doubt His love for you, and it makes you doubt everything about Him. His plans may not make sense to you, but you can know deep in your heart that He would never do anything to hurt you. You know through His work on the cross that He would never withhold anything good from you. You might not have all the answers, and your all-knowing, all-powerful God does. He’s looking down from Heaven at you now, and your entire life is laid out before Him. Trust that if you knew what He knew, you would also approve of His choice to allow this pain.
We have this promise from Him:
Romans 8:28 (New International Version): And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
What does this verse mean? It means that nothing can stop God from giving you a full life in Christ.
I used to think that I had to be very careful about each decision about my life. I thought that if I made the wrong decision, it would frustrate God’s plan for my life. I believed that I had to find out exactly what His will was, and follow it without any error, because if I made the wrong decision, my life would be in shambles.
That’s the wrong way to think. I realised some time later that God is bigger than all my decisions. When He prepared a plan for my life, He had already considered my stupidity, and all those wrong decisions I was going to make. It’s foolish to think that any decision we can make will render His plan useless. Trust now that nothing you can do will frustrate God’s plans to prosper you, and give you hope and a future.
Let me show you an example from my life. All my life, I was very cognisant of the fact that I’m not intellectually gifted. In fact, I believe that God chose me for His kingdom precisely because I’m weak. My weakness would surely make His strength all the more magnified, and give Him more glory. So I know very well that I am not a smart person.
And though I knew I was dumb, I had a lot of wishes for my life. I wanted to be a better person. I wanted meekness, and kindness, and love. I tried to figure out ways to get those things, but nothing I did ever stuck. I resorted to asking God, and years later, after I was healed from my psychosis, I realised that God had answered my prayer. I was all those things – to some small degree – but I knew that I didn’t achieve it through self-discipline, or absorbing knowledge from books. God was the one who gave the growth. I didn’t understand how He did it, I just knew He did it.
Proverbs 20:24 (New Living Translation): The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?
He was able to guide a fool like me, so He can guide everyone. Just trust that He knows what He’s doing, and stop trying to lay a foundation of works through your own human effort. Let Him lay the foundation, and let Him give the growth.
If you don’t understand His ways, trust His heart.
Map to the series:
Part 1: https://godandneighbour.blog/2026/02/19/1-9-hope-for-the-depressed-christian/
Part 2: https://godandneighbour.blog/2026/02/19/2-9-hope-for-the-depressed-christian/
Part 3: https://godandneighbour.blog/2026/02/19/3-9-hope-for-the-depressed-christian/
Part 4: https://godandneighbour.blog/2026/02/19/4-9-hope-for-the-depressed-christian/
Part 5: https://godandneighbour.blog/2026/02/19/5-9-hope-for-the-depressed-christian/
Part 6: https://godandneighbour.blog/2026/02/19/6-9-hope-for-the-depressed-christian/
Part 7: https://godandneighbour.blog/2026/02/19/7-9-hope-for-the-depressed-christian/
Part 8: https://godandneighbour.blog/2026/02/19/8-9-hope-for-the-depressed-christian/
(FINAL) Part 9: https://godandneighbour.blog/2026/02/19/9-9-hope-for-the-depressed-christian/
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