“Dwelling on the negative is a walk in the park, but entertaining the positive and having hope in this life is like resisting the flesh.“
There are seasons in our lives when we are more discouraged than encouraged. We will inevitably experience these moments that often show up during times of grief, uncertainty, or exhaustion. That statement above is something I relate to so easily and heavily, and I reckon some of you have or currently are in this place now. It’s so easy to harp and marinate on the bad and what’s wrong in our lives, who or what do you cling to amidst it all, when you are in the thick of things?
A few weeks ago, I found myself in a place that I have constantly visited a lot the last few years – the emergency room due to my chronic pain. I found myself explaining the same symptoms and things that I did several times before to medical doctors, family, friends, and God. I was mentally fed up dealing with a medical diagnosis that many doctors alike, YouTube remedies videos, and many requested prayers had not resolved yet. Further compounding the issue was seeing so many scary instances and occurrences around me from Trump winning the presidency and the looming future that would bring, and seeing so many people close to me battling their own dark silent battles. I constantly pondered this truthfully: Was this the life God intended for this world? If I’m being honest, I was at a very low point during this period, quite literally on the last 2% of religion or belief in God I had left in the tank. Can any of you relate? I didn’t know what else to do. Fasting seemed pointless, my once loud prayers to God for help became me on my knees in silence not even able to muster up a sentence because my hope was that defeated.
All of these religious practices I had been brought up on became so foreign to me. I looked to other sources of hope outside of God like the world. The world and all of the things it offered that could help did nothing but make me believe there was nothing else left for me, that I was all alone and left in this desolate place that I now call my life.
There are times on our walks as Christians when the weariness that the thorns and obstacles on our path makes us believe it’s too impossible or too much for the ultimate and perfect potter that God is to handle them (Isaiah 64:8). These obstacles make us want to run from the people we know and love for the facade of relief that self-isolation presents. They make us question God and if He can do what He’s done in the past before for us. Such as healing (Luke 18:35-42) or reviving us (John 11:40-43) from that dead place that those tough periods or obstacles at times place us in.
What do we do when our hope or belief in God grows faint or nearly dies? Keep hoping and believing in the only thing that can quench and revive what has been lost in us all and that is only in Christ Jesus. A couple of weeks back I was in that dark and desolate place because of my current life circumstances and I won’t sit here and lie to you all that they are all gone. But the only difference is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that my or your breakthroughs aren’t in man or man’s inventions but our hope has to be placed in Christ Jesus.
May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus (Romans 15:5 NLT).
This very verse about unity and mutual understanding within our community as Christians is the very verse God used to pull me out of my dark valley, to give me hope, a hope that man or this world could never supply, even with all of the technological and medical advances. Nothing came closer than God placing something in me that words couldn’t do justice.
What it was in the grand scheme of it all was hope and God sustaining me through my worst and lowest moments. And that’s what Christ’s arrival and what He did on the cross for all of us did, it produced hope and sustenance for life’s not-so-pretty moments. The hope to continue fighting the good fight in my life, and I hope you see God is doing the same in yours even if it doesn’t feel or seem like it. You and I may never like or love when our lives get ugly when things just never seem to go our way, or when everything but our names seems confusing. However, the Bible says something comes out of all of this hell we may go through, right (Romans 5:2–5)?
