What do you do when the pressures of life seem to weigh you down?
Life is filled with so many of its own ups and downs. It seems that during the good times and high ends of life, we are able to smile, laugh and just simply be free, but what happens when you hit a dead end and can't turn around? When your world seems dark and you can't seem to find any light? What happens when you are now stuck in your own thoughts and are trying to move past them and get out of the deep ditch you are in? It seems like now, it is just YOU and your THOUGHTS.
Let me tell you, we all go through our own personal life struggles, challenges, highs and lows; you are not alone. Although everyone's personal struggles look differently and are weighed differently, we all have them. Mine may look small to you yet feel enormous to me and vis versa. I am here to bring some encouragement your way! God will not put more on us than we can bear and sometimes God will keep you in a situation to change YOU! YOU have total control of how you handle every situation. First let's ask ourselves, is this a situation we can change? If so- great therin lies the answer, change it! It may not be quick fix but let's get busy and get on the road to changing it. If the answer is no, then we have to go about it another way and it starts with our thinking. This is most certainly a work in progress. Every obstacle is a chance to practice shifting how we handle those negative situations we can’t can’t control. There's a nice quote I tend to recite to myself as a "note to self"; "it's not what happens to me in life, it's all about how I handle what life brings." If you do not have anything built up on the inside of you, you will crush right along with those life crushing situations however, if you have some positive,encouraging, motivating, and inspiring scriptures/quotes/stories inside of you memorized you will be able to withstand the situations of life that come your way crushing you. Picture a soda can filled with soda- if I try to crush it while it is full I probably won't succeed on the other hand, if the soda can is empty one stomp and it's flat as a pancake! Our inner beings are the same way! When the pressures of life come to crush us are we filled up or empty on the inside? Again, life is going to attempt to crush us at some point so knowing that may we all begin to fill ourselves up so that when those situations come we won't be so easily discouraged (crushed). Here are some helpful scriptures you can begin to write on the tablets of your heart! These are scriptures I find comfort in when I am pressing myself against lifes pressures. May you be encouraged and find encouragement. As I write to encourage you, I am writing to remain encouraged.
" For I know the plans I have for you, thus says the Lord, thoughts and plans of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end" - Jeremiah 29:11
" With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" - Matthew 19:26
" I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" - Philippians 4:13
" No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgement" - Isaiah 54:17
"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar like wings on eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint"- Isaiah 40:31
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go"- Joshua 1:9 - Motivation Monday- Keep Going