When Life Gets You Down

I hope I'm not alone in saying that life can really get me down sometimes.  Seriously.

And though you may not believe that, because after all, this girl Rachel with the cute blog and nice pictures and wonderful looking family looks perfect, right?  Sorry, but behind my thick concrete blog -wall, plastered with colorful pictures and updates on my "perfect" life, lies an imperfect girl with a boatload of issues - everything from bad hair days to yelling at my siblings to crying in my bed to feeling un-important to failing to be the sister I need to be.....and all those little things like ingrown toenails and pimples and stomach-aches.......and I could go on.

I have problems - and my life is not perfect.  Our family has quite a few issues going on right now (which I won't disclose on this blog) but needless to say, we're far from perfect.  Far. (Did I say far?)

I get discouraged.  I feel so many things - anxious, afraid, dismal, angry, frustrated, cranky, disheartened...even depressed sometimes.  I have hard days.  I have days where I fall down and believe the lies that Satan bombards me with.  I lose sight of the truth and think, what's the point of all this anyway?  I start thinking I'm alone....that maybe God doesn't care.  I look down and stare at my pain, blowing it way out of porpotion until it looks much bigger than my true Love.

And do you know what?  When I believe all that, I've succumbed to Satan.  I've allowed him to gain a foothold in my heart.  And things don't get better from there - they get worse.  Dark clouds only get darker.  I sink farther into despair.

It's when I'm at my lowest that I've learned to pull myself up by my spiritual bootstraps, and, no matter how bad I feel, I look UP.   When the torrents of depressing thoughts come rolling in, I literally have to just shut my mind to all that and focus on my Saviour.  And while reading verses that apply to my situation is sometimes helpful, I have found that the best way out of the pit is to just fix my heart on Jesus.  To remember Who He is to me - and who I am to Him.  No matter what's going on, I strive to block that out and think on how awesome He is, how I'll never be able to fathom how enormous His love is for me.  How crazy He is about me...even down to the little details.   I've told God over and over how much I love rainstorms and cloudy days - so when they come I just feel like He's smiling down on me. 

I feel like we, as second generation Christians, have totally forgotten how personal God is.  I forget that when God says He loves me, He really means He loves ME.  Not as just another human in the masses, like a herd of cattle, but individually, as His very own child.  When He promises that His strength is made perfect in my weakness, He's dead serious.  He really means it.  I am His, and He is mine.

So I sit and journal how great my Savior is.  I just read Scriptures that talk about God's incredible love for me, and His sovereignty in my life......I listen to heart-stirring worship songs.  I sit in His presence and just soak up what I lack.

And then?  Yes, the problems remain.  Yes, the pain is still there.  But it's diffused.  Making room for Him in my heart, instead of letting my fears reign, sheds a whole new light on the issues I have.  And I can go on - with Him.  He makes it easier somehow.  It's one of those un-explainable things.....but when life gets me down, the only remedy is for me to look up.  It works. 

Because He works. 

Just wanted to share that with you all.....I don't know what you're going through, but know that you are not alone.  We all have problems.  We're a broken people.  Messed up, twisted around, confused, you name it.  But that's why we need Him.  Whatever's going on with you, just know that God is so FOR you and loves you to death...literally.  Bask in that. Let Him in your life - perhaps more than you have before.  You need Him. :-)