Prayer and Counsel
If you are struggling in adversity – know that you are not alone.
Adversity comes in all sizes and shapes. No one adversity is like another and no one person’s adversity is less important than another’s.
Marketplace Leaders is concerned about your adversity. We are primarily a teaching and equipping ministry and are not equipped to provide personal counsel to each person who reaches out to us. However, we understand your needs and we have provided several ways to support you.
Since we serve people from around the world, over the years we have received thousands of emails and calls requesting support. To help you, we’ve compiled a page containing the most common questions from people struggling in adversity – along with the responses provided by Os Hillman (who went through his own deep time of adversity) including questions like, “Why me?”, “How long will the adversity last?”, “What is God trying to teach me?”, and more. To access the page, go to Insights into Adversity. Also please visit www.UpsideofAdversity.com to download two free chapters of Mr. Hillman’s book, “The Upside of Adversity.”
Prayer, Support, and Counseling
- If you are suicidal or suffering through abuse, please click here.
- If you would like anonymous prayer support, please call our 24-7 prayer line at 855 440 HOPE (4673).
- If you are in serious relationship breakdown, please contact Lifeskills International by visiting their website, http://www.lifeskillsintl.org/, or call them at 303- 340-0598.
For free articles on Prayer, click here. Also, please check out our online Marketplace Leaders’ prayer group.
Encouragement from Os Hillman:
I wanted to let you know that the season you are in will pass and God will make something good of your experience. The keys to getting through your adversity are:
- Take one day at a time and ask God for grace for that day only.
- Don’t project outcomes to the future. In other words, don’t think about all the ramifications of what “may” happen resulting from your circumstances.
- Meditate on the Word of God and be obedient to the small things He shows you.
- Spend time alone with God and praise Him. We overcome the spirit of heaviness through praise.
- Reach out to others in the midst of your pain.
“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.” (Isa 61:3).
I also encourage you to read The Upside of Adversity. There are many more practical action steps contained in the book that can give you additional direction. This book has given hope and changed many lives. Learn more.
Please know that the greater the adversity, the greater the call. God must have significant plans for your life. The apostle Paul experienced great adversity in his calling. He understood that his adversities never meant a lack of love from his Heavenly Father. God’s love was demonstrated by what Jesus did for each of us on the cross. We are in a spiritual battle on earth and we live in a fallen world. As a result, there is evil in the earth and there are questions that will only be resolved when we get to heaven.
My prayer is you will stand firm and take one day at a time. Again, the key is to press into Jesus with all you have. May His grace cover you and may He use your adversity to draw you into his loving arms.
He is faithful.
Os Hillman
There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. (Hos 2:15).
Additional Resources to help you through difficult times:
Making Godly Decisions
Many people struggle with key decisions in their lives. I have written a book that has helped many people discern how to make Godly Decisions and hear from God. This book may provide additional support and direction for you.
Click here to learn more about this resource.
Broken Children, Grown-Up Pain
In Broken Children, Grown-Up Pain, Paul Hegstrom, author of Angry Men and the Women Who Love Them, shares practical and proven methods for facing and dealing with the pain of the past. By using scientific research, psychological studies, and biblical principles–especially those found in the Jewish model of raising children–he points us to the place of healing where we are finally free to pursue authentic relationships and build healthy emotional intimacy with others. Learn more.