This week I was driving in my car and heading to work while listening to a worship song on YouTube. It was a beautiful song called, “You are my Strength”. The worship leader was singing it with great passion when he stopped to give a short testimony. He said about 1 year ago “he was so overwhelmed that all he could have seen is what was in front of him”. Then, “one day while he was driving all he wanted to do was literally steer his car into oncoming traffic because life didn’t seem worth it”.

His testimony immediately propelled me to a time when a 16-year-old young lady in my church testified about having serious thoughts of suicide. I was thinking this young woman who has all the promise of life ahead of her, is in such a disheartened state that she was willing to take her own life.

Then I recalled in my own life once when I was having personal problems that I jumped on my motorcycle and rode it on the highway at lightening speed with no fear or care for the deadly consequences. When I came off the bike my entire body was literally shaking. In fact, in all my years of driving I have never drove a car even close as how I rode that motorbike that night.

So yes, I know first-hand how it feels to be overwhelmed and drowning because of the cares of this world and with no lifeboat in sight.

The devil blinds us into thinking that what is directly in front of us will last forever and it will never dissipate. Our minds are tricked into thinking that our life will forever be defined by what is going on presently, like if the God who spans the universe is limited by this moment only!

The challenges you and I face are no different from any believer because men are of few days and full of trouble, but God delivers us from them all (Psalms 34:19). Even the great apostles were in situations where they despaired for life itself and thought that God gave them a sentence of death.  

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

But why does God place things in our lives to bruise us so? The answer is found right there in the passage. God brings trials not to kill us, nor for us to kill ourselves, but that we will trust in nothing else but HIM.

Let’s not let the pressures of life make us think and feel that the only available option is to surrender and wave the white flag. Gods children don’t surrender! We fight until the end; we fight with every fabric of our being. Fight to keep the faith and don’t let it leave you!

I ask you to remove any cloak of despair that the enemy has sown on you. Shake it off I say, and put on the garment of praise for heaviness (Isaiah 61:3). Yes, the bible instructs us as individuals to put on the garment of praise. We have the choice of what wardrobe to wear at this moment.

Therefore, raise up your head and let praises come from your inside instead of sadness. Don’t allow yourself to have the wrong things brought out of you (Song: Let Praises Rise). Remember we are never defeated until we are defeated on the inside.

I encourage you to not let the trial that you temporarily see at this moment stop you from worshiping and praising. Remember nothing last forever and on the other side of this test is victory and more faith in God which leads to righteousness (Romans 4:1-5). So, wipe your eyes my friend, you are in a good place when you stay in God and wait upon Him (Isaiah 40:31, Isaiah 30:18, Exodus 14:14, noi Psalm 27:14)

PS: Dane Miller was last seen looking beyond what was in front of him and hoping for what blessings God has next in store, while at the same time looking backwards and rejoicing because of how far the Heavenly had carried him.

Your Brother in the Lord,

Dane Miller | Author

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