Maybe you are at the top of your game and don’t need much encouragement right now. If that is the case, maybe you can think of someone who does and forward this message to him or her.
But perhaps you could do with a bit of hope. So here we go. I speak from experience and from faith. There IS reason for you to hope and look forward to better days because:
1. It’s all going to pass. Life goes on. As a rule of life, everything changes. Be encouraged by the knowledge that your situation will not last forever. Nothing stays the same. Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away. (Job 11.16)
2. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Every time I went through hardship in my life, it made me stronger by the time I got to the other side. Good teachers often come disguised as trouble. But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good. (Genesis 50.20)
3. What kills you, does you a favor. Okay, there’s a caveat. This one only applies if you are sure where your soul is going after you die. Like Paul, for example, who said: For to me, life is Christ and death is profit. (Philippians 1.21)
4. He promised: It will never be more than you can bear. In other words, contrary to what you may think or feel, you CAN deal with it. You CAN overcome it. It’s never going to be bigger than you. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. (1 Corinthians 10.13)
5. Focus on what you can do, not on what you can’t. A lot of energy and life are wasted on worrying about things you can’t do or change. Make a conscious decision not to fret over them. Instead, use all that energy to do what you can. And after you’ve done it, just put your head on the pillow and leave the rest to God. Do not fret—it only causes harm. (Psalm 37.8)
Want to be even more encouraged? Read these five points again, but this time, do it out loud. Don’t ask me why, but it works.
Take heart.
12 comments:
Deus usou muito o Senhor por meio deste post, hoje pela manhã pedi uma direção a Deus, e eu a encontrei neste post...
Deus abençoe abundantemente o senhor!
Bp Renato,
Reassuring post!
No. 4 speaks to me - "He promised: it will never be more than you can bear.....". "God is faithful....".
Thank you!
LillyEV
Bishop Renato,
Thank you for these words of encouragement.
I am going through a period of darkness in my life at the moment and I was very encouraged through reading your five points together with the Biblical quotes you used. I love point 1; point 4 says so much, and means so much to me, and point 5 is superb.
Whether we are struggling with life or not, we know that we are carried through life by God - we depend on Him. We all need encouragement - even when things are going well for us.
There have been many times that I had been in terrible darkness and yet because God was with me and was carrying me, I had what I needed - the spiritual strength that He provides.
You claim that there is a purpose for our suffering, “Every time I went through hardship in my life, it made me stronger by the time I got to the other side. Good teachers often come disguised as trouble.”
I agree. From personal experience, although the periods of darkness I had been through seemed senseless at the time, after looking back on them I saw that some of my fatal character flaws were sorted out.
Even in the most difficult times God has a plan.
Once again, thank you.
Such a helpful list to not give up, and to renew one's strength. Thanks Bishop.
This message refreshed me. Especially the 1st and 4th point. Its is true, what I am going through will eventually come to an end as all things do and God knows I am capable of overcoming what my current situation otherwise I wouldnt be in it right now. It is so easy to forget these simple but strong words. I am will defintely post this on my facebook as I believe it will help many people.
hi
Whether we are struggling with life or not, we know that we are carried through life by God - we depend on Him. We all need encouragement - even when things are going well for us.
There have been many times that I had been in terrible darkness and yet because God was with me and was carrying me, I had what I needed - the spiritual strength that He provides.
from what happened to me i can agree, that it has made me stronger.
This post has touched me Bishop, I especially loved where you say that 'good teachers come disguised as trouble' because it is really in these times that we learn and become strong.
Many times when we face hard moments we are so overwhelmed by what we feel, we don't take time to stop and think rationally. We often end up doing one of two things, either making rash decisions, doing what we can to end that situation as quickly as possible (and this often leads us to act based on our emotions instead of our faith) or we get stuck in depression, asking why, pitying ourselves. I think the best thing to do during a crisis or a hard moment in life would be to stop and meditate on these five points. They force us to look at our situation rationally and give us hope and perspective of how we can move on. Thank you for posting these.
very powerful!
One thing that is true is we always tend to look at the wrong side of life and the troubled moments and that keeps us at the bottom with no strengh to get back up. But these few steps really gave me an idea of how I can overcome those moments and one of the point I most liked is the one which say that what does not kill us makes as stronger, therefore we should continueing fighting with that idea in mind and we will surelly overcome.
Thank you BP
Iracelmase
I believe there is a time for everything, when it feels like things are really going south, its just God saying its time to even go higher, because sometime for us to be on top, first we need to go to the bottom! and God will lift us up.
Us humans we always tend to look at the hardships, problems and tough situations instead of looking at the bright side of life.. The part that says "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." really makes sense, i remember i was going through a time of test, the devil would always bring up doubts but no matter what i kept strong and firm and all the problems i was facing really truly made me stronger!. Thank you for the list of encouragements.
Monica
Brockton MA
Thank you Bp for the post...
"Good teachers often come disguised as trouble"
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