A Mindful MomentSample

God Will Strengthen You

You’ve had days when you felt discouraged, didn’t perform as well as you hoped, or felt drained. Days when you hit a wall, and you weren’t sure you had it in you to keep going. Days when your “flesh and heart failed.”

Maybe you’ve even had weeks, months, or years like this. It’s no secret that life can be hard. The struggle is real.

Fortunately, God restores us when we’re having a hard time. We can’t expect to feel our best all the time, but we can expect that God will get us what we need. Over time, we learn to pay attention to the mechanisms God has created for our strengthening. We get better at noticing what helps us to feel better and then using those tools. Kind of like when we learn to notice how to fill up a car’s gas tank when it’s empty. We also learn how to help ourselves feel better so that we can be strengthened in our hearts and receive the “portion” that God promises us during hard times.

Make a list (perhaps in your journal) of things you do when life is tough, and you need restrengthening. For example, some teens use exercise, prayer, music, journaling, or talking with friends as ways to get emotionally grounded. This list of God-given coping skills will be important for you as you move through the meditations in this reading plan.