Grief, problems, betrayal , all those constant battles have a way of muting life, opaquing purpose and hope. Life becomes grey, hopeless, mundane, your just surviving with the devastating aftermath of loss. The only thing you can do is breath and slog through life barely connected.
The enemy always an opportunist will shout loudly about the lack of hope and God’s presence. He will turn abandonment into a Giant impossible to slay, loneliness he will make your constant companion because it’s not a matter of the people around you but the of the one who is missing. You can’t see what’s left because the loss is too big, too wide, to earth scorchingly devastating.
The enemies purpose isn’t just to steal his ultimate goal is to kill.
He kills:
•Purpose
•Joy
•Life
•Dreams
•Hope
•Faith
•Will
•Energy
•Worship
•Goals
A Thriving life can be stunted.
After heartbreak and disappointment we can still live but slow quit life. We do not pursue Him who is faithful, who can heal and redeem. We let cynicism creep in with the excuse we are being real. We can stop moving forward, stop striving towards Jesus because it’s clear( per Satan of course) that the promises of God are not for us, He meant them for others. He confuses us and uses every defeat to bully us into submission and complacency and forces us to hide in the shadow to prevent further attacks. He convinces us that we were just made to suffer and to live in deficient life.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick”
Proverbs 13:12 NKJV
BUT you have to Stop and realize this is all a lie, this is all a plan to stunt your growth, to create apathy that ultimately will affect your potential and stops life from coming forth, not only for us but for others. Don’t let Satan blind you to WHO stands in your corner. Whose anointing flows through your veins.
You have the anointing of a God who parts seas, a God who heals, a God who restores, a God who has never let death win, one way or another whether in this life or on the other side of it he defeats death and defies failure and disappointment.
Even when the Earth is scorched life can come back, after the devastation of fire the result of the fire on the land is abundant life, fire thins out thick woods so what comes back is a lush more diverse eco system. Plants that could not thrive in a thick, dark wood, now spring forth from the smoldering ruins because the abundance of space, light and nutrients caused by the fire.
Volcanic eruptions spew ash, lava, fumes and rock and can destroy everything in its reach, but the aftermath is minerals from deep inside the earth that would never have come to the surface otherwise and transforms the dirt into amazing soil extremely conducive to growth.
Even when all hope has died The Lord redeems our story. He provides, he heals, he supplies and interjects what and who we need so that we can live again, dust ourselves off and continue the fight. Hope grows again, just look at the small blessings, medium blessing, big blessings that unfold in the valley. We start seeing him work little by little in his timing. Keep trusting, keep hoping, keep dreaming, keep moving towards GOD.
One day devastation will be transformed into testimony, into a witness of God’s love, faithfulness. One day you look back and say wow I was in that pit and I didn’t see a way out but now I’m out, I didn’t die, I survived and dare I say I thrived?
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10 NKJV
The purpose of Naomi’s suffering wasn’t for death, it wasn’t to pummel her into the ground, it wasn’t punishment or because God enjoys to see us suffer. The ultimate purpose was redemption:
•Ruth’s redemption
•The redemption of Naomi’s family name
If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.”
Deuteronomy 25:5-6 NKJV
•The liberation of a Nation: David conquest over Israel’s enemies
•And the ultimate redemption, The redemption of the world, through Jesus.
Our suffering has deeper meaning than ourselves, our redemption will not only affect us but it can change a life and a whole world.
However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.”
I Timothy 1:16 NKJV
Think of the past experiences in your life and also in the Bible that show examples of devastation restored by God.
Find other verses in the Bible that speak of the redemption of God, memorize and declare them over the hard areas of life.
Think of the areas in your life that are frustrating, hard right now. Write them down, pray and ask The Holy Spirit to give you the ability to lay those things down and to trust in His redeeming power.