Here’s the thing. I am in it right now. I have not come out on the other side yet. Yesterday was full of tears, but it was also filled with encouragement from some of the most unlikely places.
 
I’m in the struggle. And it’s OK for me to be here. I’m in the battle and I feel stuck and alone, but I am NOT alone. While I’m here, I am choosing to lift my eyes up to where my help comes from.
 
While I am in it, I am choosing joy even in the midst of tears. I am choosing to worship in the midst of pain and to praise in the process of healing. 

I am using my voice to speak and not hide, to tell those closest to me that I am hurting. My nature is to isolate. But now, as I struggle, I push myself to fight my natural tendencies and not stay silent because maybe you are like me.
 
Maybe you, like me, have a picture on Facebook that makes you look happy and well (and so many moments we are!), but the reality is you are also struggling physically or emotionally.
 
Maybe you, like me, can give your best energy forward to smile and get the job done, but when you get home you crash, because smiling laughing and actually having a great time took all you had to give. 
Maybe you, like me, come home and cry when no one is watching.
 
Maybe you, like me, need to be reminded daily of the Truth. The Lord never leaves or forsakes.
 
Isaiah 43- In the deep waters and through the fire, the Lord is with us. He isn’t taking us around it, or shortening it or even making it go away. He is simply and magnificently with us while we are in it, passing through.

​We will come out. We are Not Alone. 

#ValleyFeverAwareness #ChronicFatigue #Depression

If you have a chance to read the first half of Psalm 22, verses 1-18, you will find that it's basically David crying out to God saying... "God, you have left me. I'm being attacked. I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. I'm shriveling away. I have no strength. I have nothing. WHERE ARE YOU, GOD?!?!"

There are times we may feel alone and abandoned by people and the reality is maybe, we are. There are times when we feel like our strength is gone and maybe, it is. There are times when we may be hungry, thirsty and walking the streets.... abused, attacked and left to die. 

Pretending like these things aren't real means one has shut their eyes to the reality of pain that surrounds us and those in our community who are lost and hurting. This world can be brutal, this world can let us down.

Yet, in the midst of this, as David begins his cry for God to simply respond, David says this: "Yet, you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Psalms 22:3

Life can suck, it really can, YET God is on the throne and worthy to be praised!

If you are in the thick of it, lost, alone, hurt and desperate, you, like David, in the midst of the pain can still cry out and say "Yet, You are Holy"

It's hard. I know, I have been there, but that soul stretching cry is the chorus that reaches straight to the ears of God who sees, hears, responds and loves.

Our Lord doesn't sit on a cold throne. He sits on a heavenly throne of praise that extends to the the depth of where we are right down to the very whisper of our heart. We are not alone.

"God I look to you, I won't be overwhelmed. Give me vision to see things like you do."-Bethel Worship

These words have been a constant cry of my heart as I remember over a decade ago crying out to God in a state of being overwhelmed with the vision He gave me. It was too much, the good, the glorious, the pain, the struggle... all of it. I was blinded by what He showed me.

It is a huge prayer to ask for eyes to see what He sees. Because once we see it, it can't be unseen and we have to make a choice. And in that choice, do we respond or do we turn a blind eye to others pain, to others joy or do we get in the trenches and dig our heals in and choose to walk or crawl alongside them in the muck and walk alongside them in their joy, even when we, ourselves, are still floundering in the mud?

"God I look to you, I won't be overwhelmed. Give me vision to see things like you do. God I look to You. You're where my help comes from. Give me wisdom, You know just what to do."-Bethel Worship

Lord, Give us vision. Be our strength. You know what to do. May we follow you through the hills, the valleys and even in the trenches. You reign!

Where in your life do you need to respond to what you have seen and dig your heels in the trenches because of it? Let's be comforted in knowing that our Lord knows what to do, He is just asking us to respond.

"God I Look To You" Bethel Worship
#52WeeksOfWorship