By Daniel Garner
“I hold you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.” – Isaiah 41: 13 (NLT)
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” I Peter 5: 7 (NLT)
On a long enough timeline in our lives we all at some point feel like giving up.
Sometimes, we may even actually do it. Most times, however, we push on. It’s not always easy. In fact, it’s horrific at times. A lot of the times we end up being our own worst enemy and critic and beat ourselves to a pulp. But do me a favor right now, if that’s okay, and ask yourself this: How often have you been able to grit your teeth and push through terrible pain? If you have a heart that’s beating, odds are you’ve done it at least once. Realistically, far more! It’s those successes that, for whatever reason, our mind doesn’t think about whenever we hurt. For whatever reason, it’s not the successes and victories in our life that we often think about whenever we feel like we’ve made a mistake or are feeling low. And sometimes, we may not have even made a mistake but feel bad because we didn’t go far enough in doing something. Even though whenever we’re at our lowest the difficulty in remembering our victories isn't high, remembering them whenever we’re not hurting can help us whenever we are.
You have done amazing things! How do I know this? Because if you’re reading this that means that you’re human. And if you’re human that means you’ve felt defeated. That’s okay, that’s part of being human. But what that also means is that you’ve risen above that defeat and done fantastic things afterward! Isaiah 41: 13 (NLT) says: “I hold you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.”
On a long enough timeline we all feel that we have something to atone for. Something to regret. Something to be afraid of. But also something to be joyous about. Something to be thankful for and the One who created the universe is there for us all through everything, no matter what, no matter when. Bottom line is, is that life is often a series of decisions that we don’t want to make or regret. Often, life is a constantly upward journey of falling to our knees. We all have huge decisions to make and live with in all of our lives, whether we want them in our lives or not. And that last part is also important-if we knew in our lives that we were about to have to make a huge, paradigm shifting life choice we often wouldn’t want to make them.
The Takeaway: Remember: You have done magnificent things! Broken through barriers some people told you that you never could break through and risen above defeat time after time. And through it all, there is always a choice. To give others encouragement or tear them down. To fall down and never get up again or to bite back the depression and darkness and embrace the Light. There is always a choice. There is always a way. And there is always, always hope. Allow God to embrace you, to love you and to guide you. Sometimes that’s easier said than done but no matter what it’s always possible!