Hope Amid Panic Attacks

By Andrew McChesney

As a girl, Grete had panic attacks. She woke up in the dark, scared, her heart beating rapidly. Her fear was so intense that she wondered whether she might explode. She didn’t know where to find help. She didn’t tell her parents. She thought her fears were bigger than people. The world scared her, even such ordinary things as school and walking on the street. She didn’t think anyone in Germany, where she lived, could help.

On those sleepless nights, Grete began thinking about Annika. The two girls had grown up together, singing in a children’s choir. Then Annika had been diagnosed with cancer. Still, she had been brave and put her trust in God.

“Don’t be afraid,” Annika had told her parents. “I know where I am going. Everything will be fine.” Annika had died but without pain or fear.

Annika’s faith amazed Grete. She was scared every night. Annika’s words were the first time that Grete had heard about a loving God and eternal life. She wondered if there was something bigger than her and the world. How can I get to this place where Annika planned to go? she wondered.

Grete stopped having the nighttime panic attacks when she was 14, but she still felt afraid and lonely. Then she met her future husband, Nico. He didn’t go to church regularly, but he strongly believed in God. His parents were Seventh-day Adventists, and they opened their home to Grete for the Christmas holiday. Never had Grete spent time with such a kind family. It was a new world. Overwhelmed, she ran upstairs to cry.

As Grete sensed God’s presence in the home, she realized that she could receive help for her fears. She saw that God is great, powerful, and able to save anyone. She felt safe for the first time. She wanted to feel safe forever.

Grete began taking Bible studies, and later, she and Nico joined the Seventh-day Adventist church on Germany’s Rügen island. They didn’t know it at the time, but the church had faced closure because of declining membership. Their presence was an answer to the prayers of church members, including Nico’s father, Gunthardt, the head elder. Today, Grete and Nico are active members of the thriving church, which recently constructed a larger building to accommodate its growing membership.

“The most wonderful thing in my life is that I got to know Jesus,” Grete said. “I know that this is the best thing that I could have done. My life is so happy.”

Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help spread the gospel of hope in secular countries such as Germany and elsewhere across the world.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/inside-story-hope-amid-panic-attacks/

Daily Lesson for Friday 3rd of November 2023

Ellen G. White has a strong warning for those who are struggling to follow the call of Jesus to witness to those around them.

“The excuses of those who fail to do this work do not relieve them of the responsibility, and if they choose not to do this work, they neglect the souls for whom Christ died, neglect their God-given responsibility, and are registered in the books of heaven as unfaithful servants. Does the minister work as did the Master, to be a strength and a blessing to others, when he shuts himself away from those who need his help? Those who neglect personal intercourse with the people, become self-centered, and need this very experience of placing themselves in communication with their brethren, that they may understand their spiritual condition, and know how to feed the flock of God, giving to each his portion of meat in due season. Those who neglect this work make it manifest that they need moral renovation, and then they will see they have not carried the burden of the work.”—Ellen G. White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, August 30, 1892.

While these are very strong words highlighting the importance God places on mission, we are not left without hope. “In the charge given him, Jonah had been entrusted with a heavy responsibility; yet He who had bidden him go was able to sustain His servant and grant him success. Had the prophet obeyed unquestioningly, he would have been spared many bitter experiences, and would have been blessed abundantly. Yet in the hour of Jonah’s despair the Lord did not desert him. Through a series of trials and strange providences, the prophet’s confidence in God and in His infinite power to save was to be revived.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 266.

Just like Jonah, we may find it easier to make excuses for not participating in mission. Our motivation for these excuses could be one of many. However, our call to mission is no less specific than was Jonah’s call. The question is, How will you choose to answer?

Discussion Questions

1. What excuses have you been tempted to use for not being involved in mission? What is your Nineveh?
   
   
2. Think about how precious the truth is that we as Seventh-day Adventists have. Think about how blessed you are to have these truths. What is holding you back from sharing with others what we love so much?
   
   
3. How can you learn by God’s grace to overcome any fears you might have about witnessing and mission?
   
   

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-05-further-thought-excuses-to-avoid-mission/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 2nd of November 2023

Jonah’s story is more than amazing. The fact that God could save the Ninevites in spite of the poor witness of Jonah is a stark reminder that our role is merely to be a conduit for God, who alone can convict and convert hearts. It is a reminder that God seeks only willing and humble messengers who will follow His direction.

The call is there. God is looking for willing volunteers. We are to answer that call by submitting to His leadership, listening to hear His voice, and then choosing to obey whatever He tells us.

The story of Jonah also reveals God’s love for people who live where His love is not felt and His voice not heard. Just as God had pity on Nineveh, He has pity on the millions populating the cities today, where buildings replace trees and flowers, and constant noise makes it difficult to be still and listen. Of Nineveh God said, they “do not know their right hand from their left” (see Jonah 4:11, ESV). God needs messengers who are willing to take His message of hope to those overwhelmed with the busyness and ugliness of life.

Isaiah heard a voice saying, “Who will go?” What will your response be?

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The post Thursday: Here Am I, Send Me appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-05-here-am-i-send-me/

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 1st of November 2023

“Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm” (Jonah 4:1-11:2, NKJV). What a beautiful prayer on the part of Jonah. Or was it?

Jonah had such a deep hatred for the people God sent him to that he felt it was better that he die than to lose face when the failure of his doomsday preaching against Nineveh was revealed. Jonah wanted Nineveh to be the next Sodom and Gomorrah. He was hoping for God’s judgment on these hated people. When it didn’t happen, his worldview was being shaken to the core, and Jonah would rather die than allow his world to be turned upside down.

For the second time in the story of Jonah, God confronts him, not with a sermon or a saying but with an experience. Worldviews are not formed on demand. Nor do they change because we hear something new or different. Worldviews are often formed and changed based on life experiences and how they are interpreted or explained.

The new experience God gave was to help Jonah recognize his own distorted worldview. God made a plant miraculously grow large enough in one day to offer sufficient shade to protect Jonah from the blazing sun. Jonah was grateful, not for God, who performed the miracle, but for the plant. Rather than seeing this as an unmerited miracle, he saw it as an appropriate and well-deserved blessing that followed his good works. When the plant died, it was a misfortune that caused Jonah to grow angry and insecure in his self-worth, and his thoughts grew suicidal.

The experience is followed by God’s voice of gentle correction, helping Jonah see how foolish it was for him to value a plant more than the many thousands of men, women, and children in Nineveh, as well as their animals.

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The post Wednesday: Our Excuses: Uncomfortable Confrontations appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/23d-05-our-excuses-uncomfortable-confrontations/

Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this week’s featured guest, Amy Whitsett, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson, “Excuses to Avoid Mission.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxaLPDCsUNs?si=WMc67WyqbH8nqwTe&w=560&h=315]

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The post 5: Excuses to Avoid Mission – It is Written – Discussions with the Author appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/5-excuses-to-avoid-mission-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/