Discouraging Discouragement

LICENSED to OVERCOME DISCOURAGMENT

                Feeling ‘No’ but Choosing ‘Yes’

I feel lost.

The heart and brain feel disconnected.

My heart wants to reach out, my mind says, “It’s impossible.”

I’ve tried.

I’ve failed…?

Or have I? 

Yes, I’ve tried so hard, and it seems all I’ve tried has been for naught.  My words fall on deaf ears; my extended hand slapped down; my offered heart crushed.  I’ve strove and sought to be and do all, only to find I seem to be nothing and have nothing to offer.

I feel lost.  I feel disjointed.  I feel like a failure.

Why do I feel this way?  Because I’m trying for the impossible – I’m believing for the impossible.  Sometimes there comes a point when I’m waiting for my status-quo to change, or waiting to see a miracle in another’s life, when I stand facing this immensely massive barrier, complete with glinting, sharp spikes at the top.  My neck spazes as I crane to observe the feat.  It’s like the stinkin’ Great Wall of China!  I think, “This is ridiculous, God!  There’s no way!”

“DO NOT SAY ‘NO’ TO WHAT I SAY ‘YES’ TO!”

“Huh?”  I want to ignore this sentence pounding in my head and beating loud on the hardness of my heart, but it comes again.

“DO NOT SAY ‘NO’ TO WHAT I SAY ‘YES’ TO!”

“God, what does this mean?” I question.  The response is still imploding my world. 

“I have called all things possible, and for you to declare something too vast, too overwhelming, or too big or lost for me to overcome is to debase my Godhood.”

Ouch!  I was giving into my emotions over the Holy Spirit’s power, and my heart was speaking continued death over situations which were already “dead” but which God says He wants to revive.  I chose to rest in the shadow of the Great Wall of discouragement instead of the shadow of the Almighty’s wings (Psalm 91).  “God!  What are you saying?” I had to clarify.  “Are you saying anytime I give up on a situation, or anytime I believe something is too much or too big, that I’m devaluing you?”

Scripture verse after scripture verse came in response:

“Is anything too difficult for the LORD?” Genesis 18:14

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too difficult

 for me?” Jeremiah 32:27

“What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Luke 18:27

“With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

When I lose these verses of truth, my heart and brain really do go in disconnect.  The Holy Spirit inside of me is saying, “Krinda!  You must believe in ME more than you believe in the world’s reality,” while my brain is saying, “Noooo way!  It didn’t work before, it’s been too long, this is impossible!”   I am lost when I go by my brain, because I am swallowed in the darkness that comes from doubts and confusion. 

You see, I’m believing that God brings miracles into my friend’s and family’s lives.  I’ve been praying for months that God restores my friends’ marriage – a situation that seems beyond repair.  I am believing that God brings relationships into my family that bring wholeness and not brokenness; I am believing that God breaks the spirit of self-doubt over myself; I am believing for revival in my workplace.  But, with all these things, I see no change.  When something does progress, it seems only to digress just as fast, or turn to false hope.  BUT (I say again) God speaks to these situations once more –“DO NOT SAY ‘NO’ TO WHAT I SAY ‘YES’ TO!”

I’ll be honest, sometimes I want to give up.  I want to say, “Well, it didn’t work!  I’m not seeing any change, so I’ll just keep it safe and not believe anymore,” because I feel like a failure when my prayers don’t “work.”  That’s the thing though…IT’S NOT ABOUT ME!  It’s about God!  It’s about choosing to say God is God, in every situation.  No matter what, I must choose to believe God is who He says He is.   It’s not about the outcome either, because my finite mind cannot understand the infinite purposes of God’s plan.

Feelings are just that, feelings.  It’s okay to have them, but it’s not okay to allow them to govern what we declare about WHO God is, or WHAT God can do.  That doesn’t mean I don’t feel discouraged sometimes, but if I revere God I must declare His greatness regardless.  HE IS UNCHANGING.

Our “Great Walls” are opportunities to Him who has a history of toppling gates and parting seas.  AND, when Jesus Christ is our God, He gives us the liscense to also overcome this world through Him. 

When you feel ‘NO WAY,’ choose ‘YES WAY,’ and be willing to stand on that no matter the outcome, because the outcome does not change the fact that “With God all things ARE possible.” 

In short, just say "YES" to Jesus Christ.  So simple, and yet, it is the main source to discouraging discouragement!  Christ is our license to live outside of the realm of feeling and in the realm of faith!

© Krinda Joy, December 2010