PRESS THROUGH!!!

Life is funny! One minute you are over the moon - laughing, living and genuinely enjoying life; the next, you are flat on your face, crying, wondering what you did to deserve this season of suffering. In all seasons I urge you to remain at His feet - Yah!

See, I think we forget that everything is temporary and that includes the breezy seasons too. So, when we are hit with a wave we are knocked off our feet or thrown off the boat completely. Yet still we forget that our Abba is the master of the sea. One "peace be still" and everything will be at ease. BUT...the next thing we forget as we look for the way out is that sometimes the only way out is THROUGH!

Through... because when we stand in the fire long enough we see the fourth man; because when we stand in the blaze for a while we learn his voice and we're reminded of how powerless we truly are without Him...because the more times we end up in the furnace the more likely we are to become fireproof!!! Yea because success, money, platform, fame, knowledge and the likes can make us feel God-like and much like the thorn the Apostle Paul had in his side these experiences too aid in keeping us lowly in posture, if nothing else. Furthermore, He takes us 'through' because if He didn't it would just be pain but this way pain becomes weaponized...This way pain becomes purposed! This way we experience glory and grace in the midst of that pain!

So, the next time we find ourselves being taken "through" and we feel like complaining I pray we pause and examine the fruit that is being developed in us, the dependence that is being fostered, the intimacy that is building, the resilience, strength, empathy etc. all of which will be needed for a season not yet on our radar, for a brother/sister that don't yet know Jesus who will need assistance managing the same or similar 'strugglings', for that ministry that the good Lord decided to birth from this pain so this season would not be wasted, would not be in vain, would not be remembered for what it was meant to be - the place of death - to self, divorce - to Christ, or delay - to destiny.

Yea, so PRAISE, through it ALL!!! Praise through tears and gritted teeth, praise through anger and feelings of defeat, praise through frustration and thoughts that in the moment are just confusing. PRAISE...let that be your default regardless of the circumstances. Because what's the alternative? Now, this might not change the situation but if we can't change the situation we might as well change in it, change our perspective of it. Doing this will change how we show up in it, how we present, how we process and thus how quickly we heal from it. This will also change what we do with the experience after - would we tuck it away or share it? You see our sufferings are not simply for or about us. It is meant to free something in us that will be used to unlock what's been locked up in someone else. We are only free from that which we can speak freely about.

So, the next time we find ourselves in one of those disastrous seasons I pray we remember this, I pray we remember that we have a say in how we walk through this and if we walk at all or just sit in it. I pray we remember what's on the other side and press THROUGH!!!

You are built for pressing...PRESS THROUGH!!!