Discouraged No More

Discouragement is a very real thing. It is no respecter of persons. I'll even go out on a limb and say that we all, at some point or another, have been discouraged. These feelings of dread and defeat generally sneak up behind and take hold of us in our most vulnerable state and don't tend to let go without a fight. This battle takes place in our minds, and the thoughts we allow ourselves to dwell on will either serve as fiery darts or a fire hydrant to the wildfire of discouragement ablaze in our hearts.

Here's what I mean. Discouragement is most often triggered by a news flash that something has gone awry or nothing is working out as planned. During these unpleasant doses of reality, our world often seems to come to a standstill and our initial knee-jerk reaction is to throw up our hands and give up. Throw in the towel. Call it quits. Run away. Far away. Can I be honest with you? I have felt like that so many times. Sometimes things just don't come out the way we so hopefully envisioned them, and when they don't, discouragement sets in and the doubt begins to rear its ugly head. “why is school going so slow, why do I feel like I’ve been at a red stop for more than the required time, why am I sill stuck in the same job for over 1 year and have no promotion, why is my life such a routine, why do I feel like am not getting in better shape or loosing any weight and I’ve been working my behind off (trust me this is a big one for many especially for us girls), why are my relationships not improving, Does God really care about me? Why am I not being used by God? Am I even worth anything to Him? God says He loves me, but how can I believe it when everything I know is crumbling around me? Where in the world is He? Why am I still stuck in the same hole I was in last week? why why why? “Yep, been there. And I want to tell you it's a very real place. But you don't have to stay there. You don't have to be defeated. Life is hard, that's for sure, but we must resolve to look beyond everything our circumstances are screaming at us and be still before the God who created us and loves us through it all. How do we do that? We focus our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. He was sovereign and loving enough to call us to Himself and set us on the journey of a lifetime, and He will be faithful to complete the good work in us, rest assured.

If you find yourself in that dark place of discouragement, Beloved, I beg you. Do not give into the lies. Do not entertain thoughts that are untrue. Choose to believe the cold hard facts that are found in God's Word—AKA as the bible and dwell on His life-giving promises. Read through the Psalms of David and notice how he cried out to God in the bleakest of situations and do the same. Pour out your heart before Him. He wants to hear from you, even if all you have to offer are tears and questions. Ask the Lord to help you focus your eyes on Him instead of the ever shifting circumstances. May we train ourselves to constantly meditate on the excellent and praiseworthy things that Paul referred to in Philippians 4:8, no matter how dark the night may be.. Let us trust the Lord at all times, for He is good. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

My pastor’s wife (Elizabeth Fountain) once told me that we are eternal beings. I don’t know why but it hit me like a thousand bricks coming my way, it made all the sense in the world. Offcourse, if we live as for eternity instead of the 60s Or 80 Years we have on earth than perhaps we would worry less about our problems, our current circumstances, our physical appearance, about what others think about us and worry more about what God thinks about us. Since at the end that’s all that will really matter!