Are you feeling alone? Spent? Used up? Dry? Weary? Completely and utterly exhausted? Over it? 

Life is tough right now; there’s no mistaking that. But there is hope in the affliction because you aren’t alone. 

I’m sure that the apostle Paul woke up at some point and said, “Yup, I’m tired of getting shipwrecked, I’m tired of getting beaten, and I’m tired of sleeping on a prison floor. I want to go home and just chill out.”

I mean, he had to say that at some point, right? 

I have hit walls many times in my journey, in fact, I’m right there with you right now. 2020 was rough! However, in this desperation it’s important to remember where to go to get filled up and encouraged again.

Check out this verse:

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” II Peter 1:3

God isn’t promising it’s going to be easy, no, He’s saying that He’s giving us all the power we need to face whatever life throws at us, today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Today. 

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Ephesians 4:1

Whatever it is He has called you to do, be it a season of joy and ease, or a season of pain and hardship, He wants you to live worthy of that season He has called you into.

You’re called to perseverance and to be a warrior even when things get difficult. He wants you to lean into Him every morning when you wake up bleary eyed and struggling to find strength to even fetch coffee. He is teaching you to lean into Him when the going gets tough; that only He can bring you through. In fact, He may be teaching you one of the hardest lessons you’ll ever learn. 

But how do we get through these harder seasons? 

Let it out. Be vulnerable. Be honest. Tell someone how much life sucks right now. And yeah, life can totally suck sometimes. It’s okay to say that. God knows it too. Lean into Him, lean into your friends, parents and mentors. Tell someone. Anyone. Life is too short to not be vulnerable. And let me tell you, once you get it off your chest, the freedom that God begins to bring is extraordinary. 

Most of all, talk with God every day. Read His word and meditate on it. Write down some verses that really encourage you and place them around your house or apartment to remind you throughout the day.

I leave you with this encouragement that, while there will be trouble in this world, God is right there with you. Our home is not in this fragile and frail world but with our Father in Heaven.

“My prayer is not that you take them out of this world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” John 17:15-16