GUEST BIO
Sheila Walsh: God's Shelter for Your Storm
By
The 700 Club
GETTING INTO GOD’S WORD AND HIS PROMISES
Studying the Bible has always been an important part in Sheila Walsh’s life. She gave her life to Jesus at a
Bible study when she was eleven. Reading and meditating on God’s Word has helped her get through the darkest moments.
Though the Bible has been a constant influence in Sheila’s life, she found a new inspiration to learn from it. In the last few years, Sheila says there has been a shift inside of her to focus on God’s Word even more. She still believes in the power of sharing stories to help get us through the tough times, but nothing compares to God’s Word.
It is God’s Word that shows us how to live and bring us back to our Heavenly Father. It helps us stand firm when everything else seems to be falling apart. This is why Sheila has a new commitment to teach and write books that concentrate on going deeper into God’s Word and learning what He has promised us. When she started studying God’s promises, she asked these questions to prove they were true: 1) Do Your promises come true no matter what life brings? 2) Are You faithful even though we are not? She found the answers to both questions were “yes.”
Two years ago, Sheila was walking her dogs around her neighborhood and praying. She realized as she was praying that most of the people she knew had significant needs and could use some hope and encouragement. It was no longer enough to offer hope and encouragement through just stories. She had to find promises in God’s Word because it is absolutely sure and it never changes. All the promises of God find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. In the atoning death of Christ, we see that God has kept His most difficult promise of all, and He will never fail us. From the over 3,000 promises found in the Bible, Sheila chose ten life-changing promises that she thought were the strongest and could stand up in any life situation.
As she has weathered her own storms, God has brought her to a place where He has shown her the power of His promises. The foundation of her books is that when God makes a promise, He can never break it because that is His nature.
HARD TO BELIEVE
Many times it is hard for us to believe in God’s promises because many of us have experienced deception, misconceptions, and even corruption. Also, our human experience may not sync up with heavenly truth, but our God does not fail. We have seen this throughout the Bible and if we look, we can see it in our lives.
Another reason it is hard to believe God’s promises is because promises are devalued in our culture. The word “promise” doesn’t mean anything to us. Our culture takes God’s promises out of context and stands on that. We miss the point of what God is really trying to say and how to apply His Word. God never promised an easy life, but if God speaks you can count on Him and His Word.
We need to forget the misconceptions of what the culture has taught us and told us. We need to go back to God’s Word and use it. He will not lie. As it says in Psalms 119, His Word is a lamp unto our feet. God’s Word and His promises are deeper, richer, and wider than we know. Everything we are longing for is found in God’s Word. We need to feed our souls. We haven’t been doing that and we are anxious and malnourished spiritually. The more we take in of God’s Word, the more we are changed. God by His nature cannot lie.
GOD’S PROMISE OF LOVE
One important promise of God is that He loves us. We are loved and it is important to know that we are seen and loved by God. This is a foundational promise that the enemy does not want us to believe or receive because if we do we could fully receive all of God’s promises. This is where we need to come into the Light of God’s Word and know that we are seen and loved.
Sheila shares God’s promise of his love from one of her favorite chapters in the Bible, Romans 8: “For I am convinced that neither death not life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (vs. 38-39 NIV) All of Romans talks about what we are like as sinners and the human plight, especially the chapters leading to Romans 8. Then Romans 8 starts with “There is now no condemnation…” and ends with “…no separation from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus”
Sheila learned the meaning of this promise firsthand. When Sheila was with the 700 Club, someone had handwritten that scripture in calligraphy and gave it to her. She loved that scripture and had it hanging on her wall.
After this, she left the show and went through some personal trials that eventually brought her to a psychiatric hospital. God’s Word eventually helped her get well. Sheila believes she went through this to fully understand this very promise of God - He had to take her to the antithesis of what that promise is. God had a bigger vision for Sheila through this. Instead of taking away problems, He makes you face them and go through them. God’s ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts. The more you align your heart with God’s promises they will be more real in your life. He cares for you.
Also in Romans 8, the Apostle Paul said “He was convinced…” that nothing can separate us from God’s love. This means the case of God is a rock solid case. Paul was a learned man. He was thoroughly convinced in the promise of God’s love.
GOD’S PROMISE OF PEACE
Another promise that God gives us is His peace: “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” (John 14:27 NIV). Many times we wait for the world’s circumstances to change but He promises peace despite what is going on in the world. If we look at John 14-16, Jesus told His disciples about their fates and persecutions. Then, He says in John 16:1 “I have told you these things so you will not go astray….have peace.”
Jesus was preparing them for what was coming. After that, in John 16:33 He tells them, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Jesus promised them the ultimate peace through Him. His promise of peace is something that we can also stand on today.
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