Sick, stressed, or struggling?
If you’ve been reading previous posts, you’ve heard this before; you’ve seen that I’ve written about how God will use life events and pain to change us or build us up (From Depression to Joy). God also uses these events, sickness, and relationships to get our attention. God uses many different situations in our lives, or in the lives around us, to stop us in our tracks. He uses them as an effort to slow us down enough so that He can speak to us. He uses circumstances and tries to wave us down so that He can love us and help us. He knows we cannot live life victoriously without Him. He is patient and goes the extra mile so that he can catch us, because the busyness of life and all of life’s demands are constantly vying and competing for our attention.
We are often too busy to hear from God though. Too busy to pray, too busy to read the Bible, too busy to go to church, too busy to thank Him, too busy to worship Him or to even take note of Him. When we do this, we continue to struggle, get sick and become overly stressed. God wants to remind us that He is God, and that we cannot do life without Him. Life without God isn’t a smart thing to do; I know because I’ve done it before (and I will never go back). It won’t be long until something happens to get our attention. We face a problem that we cannot solve, or the chaos in life gets too hard to endure. We get the flu or develop stress induced sicknesses. The doctor may give us a severe diagnosis, or we lose our job, our relationships suffer and fail. We hear of wars in other countries, or unimaginable violence in our own towns. We ask ourselves, what is this world coming to? Many of us missing the bigger picture...that all of these things are God’s way of asking us, now will you come to me?
As we continue to live life without God, life eventually gets worse because it’s senseless to continue life without God. What must God do to get your attention? I thank God that I don’t often get sick, but when I do, I know it’s God giving me a break, or telling me to slow down. He's sending me a message. So I take time to rest, collect my thoughts, and take a break from all the expectations and chaos of this world. I graciously thank him and recuperate. When I come down with a bug or sickness, I pray, I rest, I worship; I listen to sermons and de-stress. I ask myself, Okay, where have I left God out? What have I been doing without Him? Because the fact that I’m stressed, is a red flag that I haven’t been putting Him first or trusting Him. I am so thankful God slows me down to help me. Don’t get me wrong, I do not delight in sickness, but I do delight in resting and seeking the Lord. I am thankful for a break because I do get tired and fatigued. I appreciate the time to get away from the noise of the world. Life is exhausting and tiring, but Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Once I fill up on God, I feel better refreshed, re-energized, and rejuvenated. We all hate being sick, so I can see why God would use it as a reminder that we are striving and struggling, and ultimately suffering because we've taken our eyes off the Savior. Additionally, sickness and/or death seems to be major life events that make us want to appreciate what we have and who we have. It prompts us to hold our loved ones closer (especially terminal illnesses or unexpected deaths). Yet, I believe these are wake-up calls or nudges for us to be thankful, to remember God, to go back to Him, and seek His face.
Let us Pray.
Father God,
You are glorious, awesome in wonder, worthy to be praised. Hallelujah. God, thank you for the readers, as well as for what you are teaching us. Many of us feel weary and beaten down by the weight of the world. We are tired and drained, and we try to continue on...without You. Some of us are even afraid, and don't know what to do.Yet You Lord, you are with us. These events are meant to lead us back to you, yet we try to cope ourselves, the best way we know how. Lord, the next time we are sick or hear of devastating news, please remind us that You are with us, and that we are not alone. Some of us don’t know how to come to You, show us. You already know what it in our hearts. Many may question you, let us ask instead where or why we have left you out. We need you Lord, there’s no question about that. Some of us are not yet desperate enough to ask for help, so we continue to suffer. Help us to understand that you want to take our burden so that we may rest and bask in Your love. Lord, I ask and pray that you will give us each revelation of your love, power, mercy, and grace. Help us to come to you. Let us realize that You want to be a part of everything in our lives, not just the hardships. Let us be bold and turn our silent cries for help into loud prayers! Thank you Father.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Prayerfully,
Pam
