Encouragement during Crisis

This week at a moment when I needed encouraging words I got this: 

If it have a start it will have an end, stay strong and keep pushing.

It set me back a bit because I don’t want this current situation to end badly. I’m not sure these words were as comforting as they were meant to be. I have come to the conclusion that I just need to survive this without a need for comforting words.

People are more excited to pray for a need when it is fresh and new but if it lingers and there is no miracle people get bored. Unfortunately when it affects you directly, you have to push through it every day whether the miracle comes or not.

God can deliver regardless.

There is a story in the Old Testament where David’s own men turned on him and wanted to stone him when things were looking bad.

And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. (1 Samuel 30:6)

David proactively drew strength from his relationship with God, recalling past victories and seeking divine guidance. David did not wait for encouragement but immediately sought God through prayer.

When can’t always rely on encouragement from others or expect others to have magical words of comfort. It is our personal responsibility to maintain our spiritual resilience to preserve even when surrounded by crisis.

Tortured by the "What ifs"

I often torture my thoughts with countless “what ifs” that go through my head.  I am one that will overthink anything and everything.  I will rehearse conversations in my head which may or may not happen. It’s a curse.  

The what ifs can ruin your peace. I pray but then my mind still asks the what if question.  

What if God doesn’t answer my prayer?

What if it gets worse instead of getting better?

I spend way too much time trying to figure everything out. It stresses me out. I guess you could say that I stress myself out. 

I have a lot of what ifs going through my head right now in my life. The worst case scenarios are the what ifs that cloud my mind.  My world is chaotic because I ultimately know that I have absolutely no control over what happens.  

I’m sure that I irritate God with my overthinking and attempts to figure things out with my what ifs.  I admit that I have a problem. I need help.  I need to get better at just letting go and accept whatever happens.  It’s hard for me to do that. 

There is a Bible verse that tells us to “cast your cares” but I don’t really know how to do that.  I haven’t put that into much practice.  How can I just simply let my what ifs go and accept what happens?  God is in control regardless of my attempts to overthink it.  

My soul needs rest.  I can’t carry all of this on my shoulders right now. I have to let it go.  There is no way I can be prepared for every scenario in my life.  I need only to live right now and deal with the now and not think about what may happen later.  

The act of casting our cares means that we have to intentionally transfer the responsibility of our what ifs on Christ through prayer and meditation.  We have to allow ourselves to release these things and stop dwelling on them. Doing this is an active decision on our part.  If you are like me you may try and fail but the important thing is to keep trying and practice letting go.  

I don’t like feeling out of control and worried about what might happen.  If I don’t learn to handle this better I am going to burn out and be a total wreck.  I don’t need to wait until that happens to decide that I need to do something about it. 

So if you are an overthinker like me, join me in the practice of casting our cares instead of trying to keep them on ourselves.  

Life Is A Roller Coaster

 

My PaPa once said that life is like going up a steep hill. You have clean out the briars along the way but if you keep on, you will get to the top. 

I have another take on what he meant by comparing life to riding a roller coaster.  There will be ups and downs, twists and turns along the way. Through it all we have to let God strap us in and then hang on.  

When I was younger I loved riding roller coasters.  The very first one I conquered was The Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags over Georgia.  It took a lot of time for me to work up the nerve to attempt it.  It seemed so high and so fast.  When I finally rode it I was terrified and the ride was so rough that I desperately held on to the safety bar in front of me. 

Life sometimes presents us with times where we are overcome with fear We have to tighten our grip and hold on.  Hanging on during tough times requires mental, emotional and spiritual strength. We have to keep our focus and remember that the tough times are temporary and only do what we can do. 

Psalm 63:8 (the Amplified Bible) states it very appropriately when it tells us “My soul (my life, my very self) clings to you; Your right hand upholds me.”   This was written by David while he was in the Judean desert while running away from his enemies.  It shows the importance in being anchored in God during the tough times. 

Someone once said of roller coasters that you have a choice to scream or enjoy the ride. We too have the choice of how to ride the roller coaster of life. We can complain about it or we can just ride it out. The ride is out of our control. We have to believe that it will work out the way it was meant to work out in the end.