Tag Archives: struggling

August 8, 2012 · 7:43 AM

Knocked Down, but Not Out

A few years ago, life knocked me down. It took the wind out of me when it did. It was hard to do things that were once normal. Everything took effort. An effort that I didn’t have the strength to give. Sometimes just breathing took every ounce of energy I had. It was a tough place to be. I was lying flat on my back wondering how to go on, if I should go on. The easiest thing to do was to give up and stay down.

Have you ever been there? Maybe you’re there now. Sometimes life throws some pretty hard hits. It doesn’t seem fair how, why or when things come our way to knock us down and off the path we were on. You didn’t ask for it or deserve it, but it happened anyway. You have to make some pretty tough choices when you’ve been knocked down. Life changing choices.

Here are some choices I made that helped me.

1. Don’t lose heart

The first thing you want to do is to give up. That’s because that’s the easiest choice, but it’s not the right choice. When the wind is knocked out of you, it gets hard to breathe. Life comes crashing down on you and you’re left wondering if you have anything left. You do. It’s in these times that you have to reach down inside you and find who you really are.

In John 14:1, Jesus told the disciples not to lose heart. He told them to believe in and to rely on Him. When we get knocked down, it is a chance for our faith to grow. When you can’t rely on anyone else, rely on God. He’s the one who is there with you even when you can’t see Him. He’s there to give you heart and strength to move on from where you think you will be forever.

2. Stand back up

One of the hardest things to do when you’ve been knocked down is to stand back up. You may not feel like you have the strength to do it, but you do. It’s inside you. You just have to dig deep to find it. Standing back up is an act of courage. It tells life that it may knock you down, but you will not be counted out. You are here to fight. You are here o win.

Proverbs 24:16 says even if you are knocked down 7 times, the godly get back up. No matter how many times you get knocked down, get up one more time. You are able to do it and each time you get up, you are stronger for it. I kept telling myself, ” What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. If I can survive this, I can survive anything.” You can survive this, but you gotta get back up!

3. Move forward

It’s not enough just to stand back up though. You have to take a step forward even if you don’t know what way “forward” is. Staying still can’t be an option. Where you were is where you were knocked down. You have to move past that area of your life o you can recover. There is hope, there is help and there is healing; but you must move forward to get it.

Philippians 3:14 and 4:13 are your new best friends. Read them, repeat them and cling to them. They say, “I press on toward the goal” and “I can do all things through Christ.” Your goal right now is to press on (forward). You can do it by the power and strength of Jesus. Your faith is what will carry you on. Find someone who can help along the way. You are not supposed to do this alone. They may not understand what you’ve been through, but that’s ok. They have the strength you need to move forward.

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July 5, 2012 · 8:58 AM

Getting peace in your body, mind and soul

I had the privilege several years ago to be able to visit Israel. I traveled all over the country visiting different sites and cities. In each place, I would stop and read from the Bible different passages of scripture that happened in each location. When I would do that, the scripture really became alive to me.

One of the places I visited that made a huge impact on me was the Mount of the Beatitudes. As I sat there reading Matthew 5, I felt this overwhelming sense of peace over me. It was unlike any other peace I had ever felt. My mind, body and spirit were all calm at once. It was amazing.

Scripture tells us that we can have that kind of peace between the three parts.

1. Peace in your mind

This is probably the most desired peace among people. We are caught up in a world that is fast paced and where debts are high. Our minds have so much information to process in such a short period of time that worry quickly sets in. Even through all of that, God wants your mind to have peace.

In John 14:27, Jesus said to not let our hearts be troubled and to stop letting ourselves to get agitated and disturbed because He was leaving His peace with us. When we don’t accept that peace, we allow ourselves to be agitated and disturbed with all the other thoughts that consume us. Put away those thoughts and accept the peace He gave you.

2. Peace in your body

Our bodies can easily grow weary. The days of 9-5 work are over. We now work sun up to sun down and then try to get the kids to practice or to games. We have friendships and relationships that we are also trying to maintain. Our bodies suffer from fatigue and often get sick as a result.

When Jesus healed people, He often told them to go in peace. Through the healing, He was also offering peace to their bodies that had been suffering. Scripture also says that God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on the Lord. Peace in your mind will lead to peace in your body.

3. Peace in your soul

C. S. Lewis once said that we are not a body with a soul, but a soul with a body. Our soul is who we are. It is what this shell of flesh is around and what will live for eternity. A lot of people live in fear of not knowing where their soul will go once this body dies. When that fear is present, you do not have peace in your inner man. That lack of peace then translates to the rest of your being and then life.

Philippians 4:7 says that God’s peace shall be yours. That peace is a tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ. We can rest assured in our souls once we accept Christ as our savior we have that life. 1 John 5:12,13 say that whoever has the Son has life… I have written these things that you may know you have eternal life. Your soul can have that peace that it needs as well.

No matter what part of you needs peace, you can find it in Jesus. It takes us receiving it though which means we have to push out other things that are preventing it. God’s desire for you is that you have peace in your body, mind and soul. Pray for and accept that peace today and watch how your life changes.

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June 22, 2012 · 8:10 AM

Moving forward

Are you in that place where you would rather stay and rest where you are because it’s the easiest thing to do? I know I’ve been there. I didn’t have the strength (mentally, physically or spiritually) to move from where I was. I just wanted to give up and let the world pass me by. I didn’t care what happened. I just didn’t want to move.

That is not God’s purpose for us. Proverbs 24:16 says even though the righteous man falls seven times, he gets back up. We are not to stay down when life knocks us down. We are to get back up through His strength. We are to move forward, not backwards or in the same place.

Hebrews 11 speaks of Moses and the choice he had to make by faith to leave Egypt. It mentions 3 things he did to help him move forward.

1. He left Egypt behind

When the circumstances of your life knock you down, you carry those scars with you for the rest of your journey. They are a reminder of where you have been. You need them so you can see how far you’ve come. Don’t be afraid of the scars from your past. By allowing others to see them, it lets them know they can survive what they are enduring.

While we carry the scars with us, we need to leave the pain behind. If you continue to carry the pain with you, the wound will never heal. I don’t know that the pain fully goes away, but we have to choose not to dwell on it so we can move forward. Moses had to leave the life he lived in Egypt behind to move forward, but he used what he learned from that life to lead others.

2. He held to his purpose

God has a purpose for your life no matter what you have endured. When I lost everything in my life, I felt like I had lost my purpose. I allowed my circumstances to cloud my view of who God made me to be. I couldn’t see how God could use someone who was as broken as I was. It added to the grief that I was going through.

Moses could have lost his purpose as he left the life he knew, but he didn’t. He held to his purpose and led the Israelites out of bondage. It’s only when we’ve endured pain and suffering that we can help free those who are still bound to their pain. God uses the broken to help heal the broken. God still has a purpose for your life even if you can’t see it now.

3. He crossed the Red Sea

At a time when his back was against the wall, the Egyptian armies came to attack. There was no where for him to turn and no where to go. He prayed and asked God for help. At that moment, God parted the sea and allowed him to cross on dry land. When his enemies pursued, it sea swallowed them up.

You may feel there is no way out of your situation. You are surrounded by circumstances and problems in your life with no where to turn. Don’t give up. Ask God to do the impossible for you. He will make a way where there seems to be no way out. When you step out in faith and move forward, the sea will swallow those things that pursue you.

If you are in that place where you’ve been knocked down and don’t know what to do, don’t give up. By faith move forward and leave that place behind, know that God still has a purpose for your life and then pray that God will do the impossible in your life. He will show you which direction is forward.

What can you do today to start the process of moving forward?

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June 19, 2012 · 8:07 AM

Stressed and struggling?

Each of us go through times in our lives when we need help mentally or spiritually. We get crushed under a heavy burden of stress mentally or we struggle spiritually to get an answer from heaven. The nights are long and restless while sleep eludes us. We can’t focus in the daylight because our mind is preoccupied with what we are facing.

Jesus was in such a place before he was crucified. He knew what was coming and what he would endure for us. The stress got to him so much that he sweat drops of blood. The mental pressure that he was under would cause anyone of us to buckle. He was stressed spiritually too. He was about to take on the sins of the world and fight a spiritual battle for the souls of mankind.

During this time, Jesus did 3 things that we can do when we are stressed or struggling.

1. He surrounded himself with friends

The night before his crucifixion, he had dinner with the disciples. The stress of knowing what was coming was all over him, but instead of running away, he surrounded himself with his support group. He knew the importance of friendship in a time of need. They couldn’t stop the crucifixion from happening, but they could be near him.

We tend to seclude ourselves when we need help the most. We break away from our friends and family and get caught up in the stress or struggle. We don’t want to involve anyone else because we don’t want to bother them. Don’t run away from the people who love you most. They are there to support you.

2. He asked others to pray

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said his soul was sad and deeply grieved so much so that he was dying of sorrow. In that moment, he turned to his friends and asked them to pray with him for an hour. He knew the power of having others pray for Him. If the Son of God wasn’t too afraid to ask others to pray for him, you shouldn’t be either.

The Bible tells us to share each others burdens. If others don’t know you are struggling, how will they know to pray for you? It will require you to be open and honest with someone else, but the relief of stress and the support in prayer more than make up for it. Let someone else pray for you and lift you up when you can’t even raise your head to heaven.

3. Someone carried his cross

On the way to Calvary, his body was so tired and worn down that He could not physically go any further under the weight of the cross. They had to get a man named Simon to carry the cross down the road and up the hill. Jesus didn’t have the physical strength to complete the mission, but that didn’t stop him. Another person stepped in to carry the load.

Physical weakness often comes with stress. We can’t be who we are called to be and we can’t do what we are called to do under the weight of stress. Allow someone else to come along and help you carry that load. Yes, it is your cross to bear, but that doesn’t mean that others can’t help you carry it.

Are you under a lot of stress right now? Are you struggling or fighting spiritually? Don’t be too prideful. Surround yourself with friends who can help you, pray with you and carry your cross. Do you know someone who is struggling or fighting? Go be the friend that God wants you to be. Pray for them and help them carry that weight.

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