Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
This passage from Isaiah 40 has had a long, lasting impact on my life. Whenever I hear it, I am reminded of my dad using it as his rallying cry during his battle with cancer. And even though he eventually lost that battle, he showed me and the others around him what true faith looks like and how a faithful person endures and perseveres.
When I forget to focus and get caught up in my worries, these verses always seem to bring me back and remind me of the support that our God gives us.
Our strength will be renewed, though maybe not in the way we might imagine and not necessarily at the time we would want (after all it does say those who wait for the Lord). Our communion with God gives us the strength to face the challenges around us. God will renew us in the midst of our weakness.