Sometimes life seems like a constant battle, from morning till night and every day is just the same. You ask yourself, ‘What is the point of living when you have to be weighed down so much?’ You try and you try but there is no relief in sight. The Lord says in Matthew 11:28 (NET), “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This means we don’t have to go about our day wondering how we are going to make it from one hour to the next. This means we don’t need to constantly kick against that brick wall in our lives. Jesus Christ offers us rest.
When you try to fight your own battles, the enemy of your soul tries to whisper lies into your mind. You start to feel lonely and dejected. When you start to focus on your hurt and how you feel inside, beware! This behaviour has a snowball effect; you get more downhearted and slowly start to feel depressed. You want to curl up into a ball and just roll away to some obscure place where no one can hurt you anymore. But that is where the danger lies; feelings are just ‘feeling’. They are not reality. If we linger too long on our bad feelings, they can overwhelm us and replace our reality.
Instead of looking inside, we ought to set our focus on things above. Apostle Paul says in Colossians 3:2 (NIV), “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” We know that the heart of man is deceitful above all things. Do not trouble your heart with things that do not matter in the long term. Rather focus on the Lord and the plans He has for you. He says in Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV), “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.”
So, when you feel downtrodden and overwhelmed by life, you need to look up. As humans we are limited in what we can do. When we have God’s help via His Holy Spirit residing in us, we will even surprise ourselves by what we can do. It’s that greater power that resides in us which enables us to rise above our situation. With that greater power working in us and through us, we are able to ‘move mountains’. Nothing is impossible to those who believe.
Shake off those feelings that try to chain you down to a life of defeat and self-pity. Help is at hand. You can ride out your storm – just remember God is there, right with you. Listen to this song and remember you can ride out your storm!◊
Linda Pearl
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