She Prayer Journals Weekend Workshop – When You Feel Like Giving Up

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I had a glorious weekend last week.  I accomplished a lot of small projects, made preparations for my upcoming home improvement plans, had breakfast with my daddy and topped off Sunday afternoon with a family bike ride.  I practically floated into Monday and then hit the floor with a loud thud.  I can’t even explain what let the air out of my sails.

All I know is that I quickly felt defeated.  I just felt like throwing in the towel.  I began to negatively self-talk myself back into a rabbit hole.  I began complaining to the Lord how I don’t have enough bandwidth in time to do the ministry work I want to do.  I felt anxious with my mind jumping to decisions that may help, but weren’t necessarily wise or God-led.

A couple of days later, these crazy thoughts and the suppressing feeling of defeat subsided and I returned to a state of peace and contentment.  Perplexing.  What just happened?  Was that an attack from the enemy?  I think so.  Anything negative that comes to steal our joy is always an attack from Satan himself.  Even though my flesh was trying to exert itself, I managed to remain in state of prayerfulness.  One thing that I’ve learned is that when the enemy is on my heels, it is because a breakthrough is near and the one who has come to kill, steal and destroy is hoping to rob me of my approaching victory or breakthrough (John 10:10).  Come to think of it, we should actually get excited about moments like these.  I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next!

All of this got me to thinking…Remember when you were in High School and teachers would throw out your best grade and worst grade?  Right or wrong; agree or disagree…the philosophy is that the other in between grades truly represent your academic grasp of the subject-matter.  One of my favorite pastors always used to say that heresy lives in the extremes.

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

Whenever we are having a terrible time, we must remind ourselves that this moment is not our end-all, be-all of who we are or where we always be.  And when things are going fantastically, we must not deceive ourselves into thinking that we will always be on a mountaintop.  We are to live in a healthy balance.  When tough times come, we must but our hope in Christ and not faint.  When we are experiencing favor and peace, we must remain humble and thankful.  This is not only the most emotionally healthy approach personally, but also provides the best witness to those around us.

So, after some thought and prayer, I am going to re-commit myself to stay encouraged and stay in faith when an attack comes.

Can you do it?  Can you live in the peaceful balance of God’s grip?  I hope so!

Up next, is my weekend workshop and list of favorite worship songs.  A few years ago, I developed a video playlist of my favorite worship songs to use in a mini/personal prayer retreat that I like to host for myself on Sunday evenings.  If you would also like to enjoy this added bonus, please go here.  There are 10+ worship songs to go along with each compartment of the my structured prayer journal in Organizing Your Prayer Closet (Abingdon Press)