Being Discouraged is Temporary.
Don’t give up. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Intro.
This post was in the making for a long time. But every time I thought that it was not the right time for it. It did not feel right. I had rewritten this several times.
When something doesn’t feel right, you will not publish it. Right?
Every time I opened my Medium page, I saw this in my drafts. Finally, It was time to finish it.
Discouraged.
When you think about how many times I already had been in the hospital because of my kidney stone and my heart condition, you can get a bit discouraged.
I know that the doctors are doing their best, but every time it is a blow to your spirit.
Also all my “Why” questions came back again.
During a local Bible Study, someone already told me to not give up my fighting spirit. And he is right.
As Christians, we know that the Lord is with us throughout our life.
And we trust Him to guide us through our troubles.
In that situation, it is nice to watch and listen to Pastor Rick Warren’s, “Defeating Discouragement“
In this video, he is talking about 7 secrets to defeat discouragement.
- Never forget how much God loves me.
- Never fake it. Be who you are.
- Remember it’s not about me.
- Relax in my limitations.
- Using my pain to help others.
- Take time for renewal.
- Stay focused on eternity.
Never Forget How Much God Loves You.
God made you so He could love you. No matter what you did in the past or what you will do in the future, God will always love you.
As soon as you start questioning this or think that God doesn’t love you, you will get discouraged.
Never Fake It. Be Who You Are.
Be real. Don’t pretend to be someone else. Be the person whom God meant you to be. If God wanted you to be someone else, then he would make you different.
Pretending to be someone else, gets tiring. It cost you a lot of energy to keep up the mascarade.
Remember It’s Not About Me.
If you forget that it’s not about you, you will get either fearful, prideful, or bitter.
If you think it is all about you, you will get your feelings hurt quickly. Your life message from God is not about you, it’s about Him.
For most of us, this is very difficult to understand. Because everything around us and in this world is all focused on you. God is more interested in why you do what you do than what you do.
Relax In My Limitations.
Why? Because you will get discouraged when you try to be Superman or Superwomen. You get discouraged when you try to do more than what is humanly possible. You need to know and accept your limitations.
Accepting your limitations doesn’t mean that you are showing that you are weak. It shows courage to know and show your limitations. Don’t think about what others will think about it.
Using My Pain To Help Others.
Sometimes you will suffer for the benefit of others. With the pain or things you are going through, you can help others. You can show or tell them what you felt or how you had handled it.
It’s like my blog. While writing about my health issues, I am processing the things that are going on. But in the process, I hope that others will read about it and learn from it. Or maybe see that they are not the only ones or alone in these situations.
Take Time For Renewal.
Take time to reflect, relax, recharge, and rethink. If you don’t do this, it will take longer to get out of discouragement. Pastor Rick is saying that it is good to do this every day.
One way of doing this is by spending time with God. Use your quiet time to “renew” yourself spiritually. When you do this, you are changing your mind.
You will focus on other things.
Stay Focused On Eternity.
You cannot live for the here and now. You need to look beyond the here and now. It’s about perspective. When we are discouraged, we lose our perspective.
17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.2 Corinthians 4:17–18 (NLT)
This can be very difficult to do. Because we have and see our trouble in the here and now. But somehow, we need to learn to let it go and focus on eternity.
You Can’t Do This Alone.
The last remark he made was, that all these 7 points are easier when you do it with others. If there are others, they can help and support you. So be part of a small (support) group.
This way, everyone can share their problems and everyone can positively motivate you.
Closing.
It was good for me, to watch and listen to that video of Pastor Rick Warren again and go through the 7 points. It helped me to see my discouragement as something temporary.
And I know that it is temporary, but at that certain moment, you only can feel discouraged.
I am also sure, that this will not be the last time that I will be discouraged. Life is full of setbacks and disappointments. And maybe it is also a good thing.
Because when you get disappointed or discouraged, there is most of the time that “Why” question again. But we already know that this question will not be answered until we meet the Lord. So, asking the “Why” question may be useless right now.
But look at it differently. When we have a “Why” question, we pray to the Lord for an answer or guidance. You can see the “Why” question also as a conversation started with God. So I think it’s good that we have these “Why” questions.
That’s it for now.
I hope that you all take care and stay safe.
God Bless.
If you would like to know more about me, then check out my profile page here on Medium. Or you can visit my blog.
