Being optimistic and having faith seems nearly impossible when you feel like your life is in shambles. Sometimes it's hard to trust God's plan when everything around you just doesn't make sense. Have you ever felt so broken and defeated that the very things that give us hope and peace such as prayer, reading our bible, praise or worship begin to seem like an impossible task? I think unfortunately this has been many people's testimony and maybe that's the very reason you stumbled upon this blog. You are confused, you have lost hope, and you are genuinely feeling like you are in the wilderness.
Being in the wilderness is not always bad. Please don't give me eye rolls... I know you don't want to hear that, but it is the truth. Most times the wilderness grows our faith; it makes us stronger and keeps us at the feet of Jesus. The beauty of being in a wilderness season is that we don't have to face the struggles alone; God is always with us, despite what it looks like or feels like, He is there. When I personally am in a wilderness season, I repeat the words, "You will never leave me nor forsake me" until I believe it and have a sense of peace. God gave us that promise and we shall stand on it! Despite what I feel like in the moment, despite what the present moment actually looks like, I have God's word that he will never leave me.
I was in a wilderness season for the past 6 years. I experienced some traumatic experiences during this timeframe that left me with severe Anxiety and Depression. There were weeks where I cried every single day. I cried out to the Lord, to make the negative thoughts and feelings stop. I was afraid of everything; I suffered from what I like to call the "impending doom syndrome". There were multiple family members that suddenly passed away within this timeframe and the grief cycle continued to restart; every time I began to feel somewhat better, a death would occur. I developed severe health anxiety where I thought I was going to die with any and every ailment you could think of. I had suicidal thoughts that didn't sound so bad because hey, I wouldn't have to suffer any more. I wouldn't have to stress my family out about it anymore; my son wouldn't have to see his mom crying every day. After a while, I realized that the devil truly is a LIAR. He held me captive in the wilderness season, not only suffering but not trusting God's promise for my life.
The devil is a liar, but Jesus is not a liar! He is a promise keeper, a miracle worker and indeed our Heavenly Father that will supply ALL of our needs. I have learned over the years that while we can't escape death, heartache, and tumultuous events, we can hold on to our faith and belief. The belief that everything will get better and that God is with us through it all. If you are in a wilderness season this prayer is for you, Heavenly Father please show the woman on the other side of this screen how real you are; if she is struggling with hearing from you and trusting you, Lord please show her your face, let her hear your voice, remove all distractions so all her attention can be on you. Allow her to make room for you, allow your spirit to flow into her presence so calmly, yet so powerful she can't resist you. Lord, we need you and we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray AMEN.
The best advice I have for all my Proverbs 31 women reading this blog is to keep going and don't give up because God needs you, we need you for the kingdom, you still have work to do. Keep praying, keep trusting and keep striving. Proverbs 31:25 says that Strength and honor are her clothing; She shall rejoice in time to come.
Ladies, be strong, be bold and do not fear! We shall stand strong in Christ, and he will give us all the strength we may need.
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I absolutely love this! And your story just gives me so much encouragement💕. I am amazed by how much you were able to overcome by trusting in God! I really want the same for my life. I personally struggle with not knowing what to do with my life. Feeling like something is missing from my life. I think it more of trying to figure out my purpose in this life. Thank you for creating tbis blog! 😊