ChoicesMuestra

Will you choose to encourage yourself?

“Life is hard, and then you get to die.” A funny spin on an otherwise fatalistic view of life, but either way, we all know that life can be really hard. Overwhelmingly hard. So hard that many of us find ways to escape, believing there is no answer for the difficult circumstances life offers. We leave relationships because they are more than we can handle. We desensitize ourselves to the pain of our realities with alcohol and pills, or both. We make the agreement that life is more than we can handle. And I’ll agree. Life is more than we can handle alone.

We need encouragement to make it. Encourage: adding courage. Courage to face the hard times. Bravery to keep going through the dark valley when we want to stop and give up.

Where can we find this courage? Courage comes from those who love us, and who better to receive it from than our Creator? He is our first line of defense against the struggles in our life. From Him, we gain the courage to make it each day, no matter what it brings. From His strength we can encourage ourselves to keep going.

Then, we need a family! A tribe. A group of believing friends who know us and choose to love us anyway, even with our messiness and failings. In this day of social media, some of us have mistaken our “friends” and “likes” as our tribe. And when life is posted for all to see, we get an abundance of misguided opinions. The internet is not our tribe. But there is a group of people out there for you. Look for them, or start your own tribe. Consider asking some acquaintances from work or church to meet you for coffee. Maybe you could start a Bible study for a small group of friends, or just get some people together for a meal every few weeks. Relationships grow from time spent together.

How is your relationship with God? Is it growing and developing? Do you gain your strength from Him? Do you take your panicky, desperate cries for help to Him, or somewhere else?

On those days where life is just slamming you with one thing after another, call on Him first, then bring in that tribe of believers as reinforcement. Do we believe He is enough?

Choose to encourage yourself or life will overwhelm you.