When you feel like Giving Up!
Have you ever said these words, I can’t take another moment of this agony? I just can’t go on another day? I feel like giving up? At some point, we have all been faced with the temptation of throwing in the towel when life throws us unexpected life events, and the emotional pain leaves us feeling empty, sad, lonely, and ultimately depleted inside. During those times we wrestle with trying to make sense of the fiery trials and adversity we face. We question God, asking Him over and over what we have done to deserve what we are facing. We pray, fast, worship, and speak His word over our circumstances. Yet still, there is no change.
During the darkest moments of my life is when I found myself alone. Everyone I thought loved and cared about me suddenly disappeared. During those darkest hours, I found myself emotionally clinging to the only anchor I had grown to depend on, Jesus, but even He seemed far away. With the little strength I had left, I stretched out my arms and lifted my hands high into the air and let out gut wrenching sobs, begging and pleading for God to help me, yet only silence answered me back.
Next Time you face a challenge
*Remember that God allows us to experience painful heart-wrenching experiences, not because He’s punishing us or enjoys watching us suffer, but because His plan is to see us come through purified, strong, and make us people he can use for His glory. Painful experiences stretch us to become the person that God intended for us to be. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
* Whatever we are facing at the moment is not a mistake. When God has His hand on your life, there is no such thing as a mistake. Everything has its intended purpose and everything happens when it’s supposed to happen. “And we know that all things work together for the good of them who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28.
*Painful experiences sometimes take us by surprise, but God saw it before we were ever formed in the womb. He knows everything we will have to face in this lifetime and uses it to equip us into coming into the fullness of our purpose.
* Sometimes during those dark times, God will purposely remove people you have depended on; to prove to you that he is God all by Himself. He wants us totally dependent upon Him in everything and every situation. After we’ve come through the storm, we can honestly say that God brought us through it all by himself. Although God uses others to encourage us through the storms, He wants all the glory and honor for bringing us through.
*Storms, although extremely painful are designed to force us into the blessings God has in store for us. They are not designed to make us bitter, resentful, angry, or unforgiving, but to bring us into a place of abundance both spiritually and physically. The darkest hour of our lives is like fertile soil. Although it is still dirt, it allows beautiful flowers to bloom. The most beautiful creations have been birthed out of adversity and pain.
*When we are challenged with unforeseen circumstances, these are the times we must cling to God no matter what. We must put on the armor of faith, the breast plate of righteousness, and draw out the sword, which is the word of God, over our circumstances. We are soldiers fully equipped to handle all of life’s difficulties, but in order to win the battles we must utilize the power God has given us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39
When the Enemy is tempting you to Give Up. Simply Surrender!
Next time you are tempted to give up, remind the devil that his assignment is over with you. Claim the word of God by pleading the blood of Jesus over your life, your children, your finances, and your attitude. At times, the storm is only beginning to brew, and we find ourselves fretting and afraid before it picks up wind. We need to discipline ourselves to resist becoming bitter, resentful, and angry during those times. At the same time, God understands our pain, frustrations, and weaknesses. He is not a stranger to the adversities that come our way. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the lord delivereth him out of them all.” Psalm 34:19. This means that trials will come to test us, teach us, and grow us. Iron sharpens iron. Trials and tribulations chisel away the old, and we become sculpted by the hand of God into a perfect masterpiece. At the age of twenty, I was abandoned by my husband. I had an eighteen month old daughter and nine months pregnant with my second child. I was devastated. He was my first boyfriend, a young man I met when I was a senior in high school. I had never dated anyone before him, so when he told me he didn’t want to be married anymore, my heart sunk deep and I wanted to die. While lying across the bed begging for death, my mother entered the room. She tried hard to console me, but I was merely inconsolable. Nothing made sense to me at that time except being with the only man I had ever loved. The only one I had ever felt loved by.
I sobbed hard, and when I thought I had no tears left in my body, I sobbed some more. Tears were flowing from a place of uncertainty, and I must have cried myself a river in that bedroom that day. I thought my life was over and that I would never be happy again. Then my mother sat on the bed beside me. She said nothing for the first five minutes, allowing me to shed more tears, gently stroking my soaking wet hair, and then she spoke in the most loving of tones, her voice almost angelic in nature. “Cookie, you need to let him go. “ “No…it’s too hard mom, it’s too hard,” I shouted, sobbing even harder. She continued to stroke my hair and wipe away the tears soaking the bed. In between sobs she spoke again, hoping her voice would somehow penetrate every lie the enemy was feeding my troubled mind at the moment. “Cookie, she said softly, her loving hands brushing the tear soaked strands away from my forehead, “The hardest thing to do is usually the right thing to do,” she quietly contended. Her voice pleaded with my heart to rise again, but at the moment I was smitten with rage, confusion, and a hurt so strong I felt the only relief I had was death.
I could not see myself going through life carrying this kind of pain, this kind of burden. As the weeks went by, the pain grew, and my heart ached even more. It was hard to bathe, sleep, and eat, and even the simple act of dressing myself had become one of the hardest daily tasks. Yet my mother’s words, “The hardest thing to do is usually the right thing to do, played repeatedly in my mind like a broken record, and at first it was difficult for me to conceptualize the reality of what I was suddenly and unwillingly thrust into, until I walked over to the other side of the studio my two children and I shared, and picked up the bible I had not touched in weeks.
I held it in my hand staring down at it for a few moments wondering if anything in this book would make any sense to me at all. I wondered if the power of God’s word would be able to penetrate through the thick emotional wound I was carrying inside. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18.
I examined it closely, brushing off the dust and opening it wide.I sat in the corner of the room and began to turn page by page while my daughter ran around the room and the baby screamed for my attention. Seconds later I found myself weeping, this time tears of joy. Those few moments of absorbing the word of God pierced into my heart like a mighty sword cutting away the pain, the agony. It was hard for me to pick up my bible after my world had come crashing down beneath me. It was hard to talk with a God I thought had left me, betrayed me, like my husband. It was hard for me to feel like there was any ounce of hope left for me after everything I had gone through in life. It was hard for me to drop to my knees surrendering my pain to the only source that had the power to heal me, God. But I did it, and after a while giving up was no longer an option for me, and as the years went by and the children got older, I remembered those dark moments when I felt like giving up, and I remembered how hard it was for me to surrender everything over to God instead of surrendering to my circumstances.
Lamentations 3:22
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning;”
My mother did the best she could to take away my pain and at the time, she may have felt that her words were spoken in vain. However, something in my spirit was able to grasp the sincerity in her words, “The hardest thing to do is usually the right thing to do, and the best way to fight is on your knees.” But now, in every trial, test, adversity, and challenge, I find myself clinging to the power of those words to see me through every storm victoriously. I forgive those who hurt me. I pray for those who use me. I surrender everything to God. I pick up my bible, sometimes with shaky hands and trembling knees. I show love to people who are unlovable. I pray without ceasing. These acts are hard to do, but there usually the right thing to do. When we praise and honor God during the most difficult times of our lives, He eventually shows us the rainbow from the storm.
Surrender everything to God and never give up. Sometimes your victory is right around the corner.
Satan uses discouragement in the lives of the believer to convince us to turn away from God. He tries to persuade us into believing that God himself is not concerned with us, and that when we pray, we are talking to the ceiling. Satan is the father of lies. Remain faithful in dark times, pray without ceasing, speak God’s word over all of your circumstances, and God will always give you the victory. Some times when we don’t know what to do, we shouldn’t do anything at all. Be still, and know that He is God.
“Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men” Lamentations 3:32:
