For as long as I can remember, people have come to me regularly for advice. Friends, acquaintances and strangers alike have often unloaded their troubles and wanted prayer and/or guidance. I don’t know why, but I get it a lot. Maybe I should have gone into some sort of counseling.
I’ve always just thought that when I tell people that I will pray for them, I mean it. I do it. I don’t think that’s something we should do flippantly. Real prayer is too big of a deal. I guess that when we do that maybe God makes sure people can feel it. I really don’t know, but I often find myself listening to someone’s concerns.
I say this today simply because I’ve had quite a bit of this recently. I will not be sharing those details here, or anywhere else, but the collective of that has put something else on my heart that I feel like we all need to know. Friends, you are not alone. We are in this together whether you know it or not. I’m here to tell you as someone who is often on the receiving end of a venting session, a crying session or a please-help-me-know-what-to-do session, you are not alone.
I know it feels like you’re the only person stuck and wandering in the desert. I know it feels like you are the only lonely person in the world. I know it feels like yours is the only relationship falling apart. I know that it feels like you are the only person suffering from that particular illness or who made that exact mistake. I know if feels like you might be the only person who is scared, has lost your courage or is simply struggling to keep it all together. That is Satan telling you that. He is a liar.
This topic has been on my heart for a few days but I’ve been struggling about how to approach it. As I was praying about it, God led me to Psalm 107. I’m not going to write it all out here, but I will do a bit of paraphrasing. I encourage you to read it for yourself and let it wash over you.
It starts by giving thanks to God and reminding us that His love endures forever. Friend, God will never stop loving us. Never. Don’t keep a death grip on your mistakes and your troubles because you think God can’t or won’t handle it or because you think it makes you unlovable.
The rest of the chapter talks about a wide range of troubles that people are in – wandering in the desert, sitting in darkness and “deepest” gloom, making human-level mistakes, suffering affliction, losing courage and being at their “wits’ end.” I don’t know about you but I feel like I’ve been there many times. In each of these cases, they cried out to God and God delivered them.
How encouraging is that? Every time when they were falling apart, regardless of why, they asked God and He brought them out of their distress. It was never too hard for Him. He never told them no. Here’s some good news, – He works the exact same way today! When your storm is raging, go to Him.
Friend if we were all in the same room together and I asked for a lifted hand from all of us who are facing raging storms and our wits’ end, we would all have our hands raised. We could look around and see that we are not alone. All of us are carrying burdens that no one or only a few know about.
If you’ll take a second and envision all of us struggling souls in that room together with our arms raised, you’ll see that we’re in a position of praise and gratitude to our Creator. There’s no place here for finger pointing, for gossiping, for bitterness, resentment or hate. We are together here and connected in our suffering.
This is a reminder to be gentle with your neighbor. Love your neighbor. She’s suffering, too. We are all dealing with heavy stuff. Let’s bear each other’s burdens instead of throwing stones. Help your friend find God’s answer. Pray earnestly for the people that cross your path. Shine some light for someone else in the darkness and you will see that we’re all in it together.
