Monday, April 20, 2009

Discouragement


Discouragement


You ever feel that way? I feel that way today. I don’t care how positive you are, how good of a mood you are in most days, or if you are chipper as a bird singing in the morning of a sunny day, we all experience days or moments of discouragement.

Our car breaks down, our proposal gets rejected, our meeting gets cancelled, someone gets upset with us, or we seem to be able to do no right or things in our life all seem to go wrong at the same time. Maybe we are worried about losing our job, we are stuck in a rut in our faith, or our life is not going in the direction we are wanting? Life can be discouraging, relationships can cause us discouragement, and problems and struggles can at times overwhelm us.

I think it’s natural to get discouraged if you are human. I think every single human ever alive has faced or will face discouragement at certain times in their lives. We are imperfect people in an imperfect world with imperfect actions, imperfect attitudes, and imperfect relationships with imperfect people. (is my article discouraging you yet?)

However, we were created by a Holy God and we have a perfect Savior in Jesus Christ. He is holy when we are not. His perfection wipes away our imperfection if we are one of His. We always have somewhere to go and somewhere to turn when we face discouragement.

No matter the news we get from the doctor, the flat tire, financial troubles, confusion, or broken relationships, God is still God and there is still hope to get through anything, overcome, and see daylight on the other side. When we face moments and times of discouragement instead of looking in the mirror or focusing on our problems, we must turn our eyes and heart to God. We must seek Him, trust Him, ask for His guidance, and His help. His grace, mercy, strength, and unconditional love and support will sustain us, encourage us, and keep us going.

Hang in there is not just a nice gesture to say to someone when they are discouraged, it’s great advice. If we hang in there, God will work through us and get us through any discouragement we might face in this world.

“Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous.”
Joshua 10:25(NIV)

2 comments:

Cat said...

Hey Jason, This was a very nice blog. I'll have to go back through your older ones and check them out again.

Jason Thomas said...

thanks cathy. they go back as far as 2006, that's when i started saving them. hope you enjoy!