Highs and Lows
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In my life I have seen over time that there are highs and lows. Obviously everything is not always bad in the same way everything is not always good. I have tried a few different options to deal with the highs and lows. I have ignored all the bad and put on a show that everything is going wonderfully. This is effective in my own mind but in all honestly I am not all that good at putting on a show, I’ll leave that to my sis. On the other hand I have chosen to focus solely on the bad, always seeing the hard, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Living this way sucks. Pardon my language, but it does.
I find most of us, most people, wether they are christians or not live somewhere in the middle. There are a lot of churches out there and believers who want to pretend that their lives are perfect for fear of admitting they are struggling. Once admitted the struggle becomes real and their faith is weak. There are also those people who consistently chose to focus on the negative and the more they focus on those negative circumstances the harder it becomes to see the good.
I attempt to live in the middle, in the balance of the highs and the lows. Celebrating the wins and acknowledging the defeats. The hardest part about living in the middle is the realization that both are a constant. Sure hopefully the good outweighs the bad but in all honestly what if it doesn’t? What if at the end of each day the bad genuinely outweighs the good? What then?
Here is the heart of the matter, when we look around this world the bad can always outweigh the good. There is very rarely always enough money, most of us know someone who is sick, someone who is hurting, things are going on in our marriages and with our children. The Bible unfortunately never promises a perfect life. Sometimes it is the struggles of life that cause us to grow the most.
My usual way to deal with struggles or anxiety is to withdraw. I personally like to pretend that all is well, I like to forget that anything is going on that is disappointing or hurtful. This morning I found myself in a preemptive strike. I could literally feel myself wanting to withdraw, to dis engage. As I wrote in my journal I was struggling with feeling anxiety and fear. I could feel the Holy Spirit encouraging me to read my devotional, stop whining and read scripture. So finally I agreed and this is what I found, “don’t push those unpleasant feelings down; instead, let them come to the surface where you can deal with them. Ask my Spirit to increase your awareness of resentful feelings. Bring them boldly into the Light of My Presence so that I can free you from them” - Jesus Calling
In all my shoving the unpleasantness down I was not allowing God to deal with my insecurities and uncertainty. God wants all of me, He wants all of my doubt and fear and worry. He wants my uncertainty and my control issues. God wants more than anything for me to choose to fix my eyes on Him.
Sometimes we have to walk through the hard times to get on the other side of it. I try to remember the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit that everything will be alright as long as I keep my eyes fixed on Him.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Heb 12:1-2
As we pioneer each day it is vital to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. In your life friend, look to Him, He is faithful to walk beside you in every situation of your life.
