How is your Day (life) going right now? Are you feeling the pressures of life, society, culture, work, health, family, marriage, and so on and so forth? I know that millions upon millions of people are hurting nowadays, and many feel like they are at the end of their rope. Life is not so easy nowadays. However, as alone as you feel in your journey you are not alone.
Are you grieving a loss? It can be any kind of loss. The loss of a loved one, a job, your health, or the loss that your child is hurting and doing things they shouldn’t, and you feel at a loss to help them. Is the world going on, but your feeling crushed inside from whatever the issue is? Well, truth is I have been at just about every loss level and it is no fun at all.
There is a saying in the Bible that says, “Stop letting your hearts be troubled. I’m going to prepare a place for you…and one day, I’ll take you there to be with Me.” (John 14:1-3) We know that is great news for later, but we are hurting now. However, what Jesus is actually saying is: You’ve got Me. Get up every day with sincere hope and set your mind on the eternal. To those so deeply hurting, for whatever reason, this is not always so easy to them. Yet, deep down inside, if we are Christians, we know this is true and we can always count on Jesus.
We only seem to see things through the lens of our own eyes, but we should be looking through the lens of what happens for eternity. When we do then our perspective will change. What really matters now, and, in the future, we need to be aware of it all.
We all see evil people that look like they are getting away with what they are doing, but do you realize that each and every person will stand before God one day. They can’t con God. If they had not confessed their sin, if they had not accepted Jesus as their Lord (for real), and if they had not repented of their sins (changed direction) …then they will face God’s wrath and it will be too late to change. Now, on this earth, is when we must change and get our life right with God.
No matter how dark this world gets, or how heavy it feels, our resurrection is just on the other side. That is fantastic news! All of us, who are Christians, are but a breath away from our eternal life. So be encouraged! Our God is making all things new and went to prepare a place for His bride. One wonderful day, there will be no more death, sorrow, pain, or loss. One day every tear we cried will all be wiped away, and we will be home with the Lord. We, who are His, have a great hope in knowing that at our final breath here, we will be home!
Some people seem to never struggle with depression, while others are overwhelmed with it. However, circumstances can change, in a heartbeat, and depression can come on anyone at any time. This doesn’t make them weak, as some claim, but can make them stronger if they know that whatever they are feeling, to go to God, ask for help in your most difficult of time. I know that over this long life of mine I have had my ups and downs with depression, anxiety, panic attacks and so on, but I also know that it was God that got me through. People can hate us and make our life miserable, but Jesus gives us hope to go on. He did it for me, and He will do it for you as well. Just take all your troubles to Him. He doesn’t always answer as “we” think He should, but His answer is always the right one…even when we don’t understand.
In the bible there are many stories where people were depressed and going through things. Everything within the Bible is there for a reason. Every story can, in some way, give us hope for our own life. One example is the story of Moses: Moses once felt so overcome by his responsibilities that he said to God, “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me” (Numbers 11:14–15, NIV). Think on this for a moment. Yes, Moses was struggling and had great responsibility for sure. However, when I read this story something is amiss. Moses wasn’t doing this alone. God was right there with Him. Moses could go to God with each detail and God was there for him, but, Moses did have great responsibility and it did overwhelm him so much so that he told God to kill him. That is drastic. We all can feel overwhelmed with the cares of this life, but death is not the answer. God holds our answers if we only go to Him with the issues of life. God, also, did not promise us a life with no problems. In fact, God said that in this life we will have tribulations. I look to the beautiful red rose, and I see a most beautiful rose, yet I look further and it has thorns. Thorns hurt! But God can cut those thorns off and we can put those beautiful roses in a vase and see their beauty.
Then there’s David. He begins Psalm 13 with, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever…How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?” King David – powerful warrior, passionate worshiper, and man after God’s own heart – dealt with debilitating depression. If depression can be debilitating to King David don’t you think it can happen to you as well? I can’t even begin to tell you how many times in my life I was feeling overwhelmed and felt I had no place to go and no one to help me. I felt that “dark cloud” hovering over me and it was not pretty. I’ll only tell you of one here. My son was killed. The depth of pain in my soul was so overwhelming I pretty much felt like King David and whatever he must have been going through. Not going to get into all the details here but lets say my life could have ended then. I was overwhelmed beyond words on this earth. Such and such was going to happen to me and as I sat there I heard God say, “I didn’t kill your son!” I chose not to do what I had gone to do, and went home…there was a well known pastor on TV…he said, I don’t know who this is for, but God didn’t kill your son. You see, God can work in ways we never know. Had I gone through with what I thought I should have done…oh, how much I would have missed out on in life. My family is my joy. No, we don’t always see eye to eye, but they are my family who I love and who God gave me to love. I am so thankful I didn’t go through with what I had planned that day, and thankful God got a message to me…not once, but twice. I know where my son is and one day I will see him. I could not protect him, and believe me I would have done anything to protect him. Yet, God took him home. I still might not fully understand that decision…but maybe one day God will tell me why. My sons death devastated my entire family. My depression was so overwhelming that I thought there was no way out…but God showed me there was a way out.
One reason why so many people feel stressed these days is our unrelenting way of life. Life is tough to us these days, but I’d venture to say that even in Biblical times they felt the same way. I would not have wanted to go through the things they did either. We might have different kinds of struggles now days, but they can be just as devastating to us. So many back then, and even now around the world face horrific persecution. Most of us have never felt what these people have and do, and we sure don’t want to. We all want Jesus to return yesterday and stop this for His bride, but it is to be done in His timing not ours.
We fill our days so full that most never add (first) God to their day. God needs to be first! He doesn’t want to be your leftover!!! No matter how tired you get in life, no matter how full your day…make time for God. Ask Him to go through your day with you, and talk to Him often. Doesn’t matter where you are when you talk to God…God sees it all, knows it all, and there is no place you can’t talk to Him from. Where can you spend a few of non disrupted moments with Him…well, go there and spend that time. God rejuvenates our soul, and wants us to take some breaths and let God be God in our life each day. Make time for God no matter what else you have to do. Pause and pray! You really do have a choice in this. I’d rather give them my cares to God so I have some help rather than carry them alone. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6) Now, praise the Lord. Thank Him for all of the things that you do have in life. Ask God to daily show you the way in which He wants you to go today. We all take our list to God…that I want list, that do this list, but stop! Take time to actually listen to what God wants to say to you. Isn’t it time to train your thoughts to hear God’s thoughts? Isn’t it time to breath in God and let the garbage out?
How’s your day/life going? Well, it will go a lot better if you add God to each and every day!