Today I want to speak to those who are living with a chronic illness. Any adversity is not easy, but I specifically want to address people who are suffering day in and day out…
I can speak from experience. I know how it feels to think that your life doesn’t matter. You seem to be sitting on the sidelines while everyone else is going about their usual business. Other people seem to be flourishing; their lives seem to be so much easier and happier than yours, (their having children, going on vacations, running here and there…etc), and your life always seems to stay the same, or perhaps taking turns for the worse.
Pity parties, feeling sorry for yourself…I’ve been there, and still visit there sometimes. My friends, this is when we really need to press into God. It’s the only option. Listen, I know what I am talking about. I am one of you.
If you’re not sure how to press into God…just ask Him. Remember in Proverbs 3:5-6, God promises that He will guide us, but we must go to Him. I wrote in a previous post (Down in the Dumps?), how God somehow always brings me out of my depression…
Let me share with you another way God gave me encouragement and guidance:
I have to deal with the feelings I’ve described pretty much on a daily basis, and without God to lift me up, I’d be sunk. There is something about being taken to the end of yourself…that’s where you discover God truly is Everything.
Crying out to God, I randomly opened The Bible, and my eyes immediately fell upon Proverbs 17:22 which says, “Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is a slow death to be gloomy all the time.” I thought, “Yes Lord, but show me how to stay cheerful.”
Later that same day, God answered me. I was reading about Abraham…even when there was no reason to hope, Abraham kept hoping – believing that he would become the father of many nations. He figured his body was as good as dead (That’s exactly how I felt). But here’s the best part…”Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.” (Romans 4:17)
There are times when all we can do is cling to Him…and I know so well, that it’s all He wants us to do.
