God’s Word—An Anchor for Your Heart

Why Scripture Steadies Us When Life Feels Heavy

By: Laura Sandretti

I had a pit in my stomach yesterday.

The details of my dilemma are too raw and personal to share, but most of us have been there—a health scare, a hurting child, an ongoing marital issue, or worse. We continue smiling, working, and going through the motions, but there is a pervasive something in our soul that feels…

Heavy, unsettled, and afraid.

I am mentoring a young woman right now who loves the Lord. She has experienced Him powerfully through worship, sermons, and prayer. She admitted, though, that when it comes to God’s Word, she struggles to read it. Like me at times, she finds it confusing, irrelevant, and dry. Unlike me, she is young. She has not suffered miscarriages, watched her child wheeled into surgery, or been diagnosed with an illness. She has not had as many opportunities to feel heavy, unsettled, and afraid.

As I have traversed the ups and downs of life, I have been indebted to older, wiser women who have encouraged me to continue reading God’s Word even when it seemed hard to read or irrelevant to my life and problems. I am thankful for mentors who have been in the pit, women who know that when the rug gets pulled out from under us, the Bible provides hope, peace, and the ability to breathe. I am grateful for seasoned sisters in Christ who have taught me the power that Scripture has over raw, loud, painful emotions when we persist in, pray through, and practice reading God’s Word. Women urging me to read when I do not feel like it or feel that it will help.

Therein lies the rub.