“This is hopeless…everything is hopeless…life is hopeless.”
“What good is my faith in God if the pain of life keeps coming?”
“I’m going to let go because taking the spiritual road is not worth it.”
Those are just a few of the thoughts I had early in my faith walk during an excruciating painful stretch of road. But God is now using that experience to help other Christians in the same predicament. Here’s the story…
Not being able to hold on is caused by something more than whatever pain or struggle has entered our tent. We let go when we LOSE HOPE and “determine” on our own that there is “no way out.”
We become proficient at covering up this despair with our faces and façades, but a volcano is encasing our soul in its molten coffin as we squirm in its gravitational anarchy.
But God wants us to come out on the other side of our travails stronger for the next test and resolute to help others who are losing their grip. Here are the three steps I take to keep my spiritual grip:
ANCHOR: We need to anchor ourselves to God and stop trying to control our future. We need to ask him to shape each day’s circumstances into a tapestry that glorifies him.
ASSURANCE: God promises us perseverance, and he assures us we will prevail. We can know with absolute certainty that we are on the right path and that God will protect us all the way—no matter what the circumstances may be.
ACCEPTANCE: We need to accept that God has a higher purpose for the adversity we experience in our lives. The Bible is clear that not only may the righteous suffer, but some of the righteous suffer precisely because of their righteousness.
I ask God to give me the strength to anchor myself to him and stop trying to control my future.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
How strong is your spiritual grip when the volcanoes of life are starting to rumble or ready to erupt? What action step could you take that would tighten that grip?
“The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Psalm 121:7-8
