Feeling Empty

I am sitting at my computer forcing myself to write because it’s Tuesday which means it’s blog post day. I’m feeling empty, poured out, depleted so how can I share anything with you? How do you write when you feel as though you have nothing to give?

You’re honest I guess.

You’re honest about how life is hard. You’re honest about how sometimes you feel discouraged. You’re honest about how you feel like there’s nothing you can pass on. You’re honest about your sadness over hopes dashed. You’re honest about having to rely on God every day, one day at a time. You’re honest about your lesson from your Heavenly Father about trust.

Yes, my friend, you’re honest.

Honesty hurts sometimes. Sometimes it’s wonderful, beautiful, and lovely when you can share how wonderful life is. Like when you’ve just gotten your dream job or one of your kids had a huge success or your husband just got a promotion or you’re excited about your upcoming vacation. But when it hurts we don’t like to share. We don’t like to be honest then.

When good news is fleeting we may not like honesty as much.

What about you?

Does honesty hurt for you right now?

Have you gotten a report from the doctor that feels crushing? Maybe you were passed over for that job you wanted oh so badly. Perhaps your marriage seems like more work than joy and you’re hanging on by a vow. Maybe bad news keeps flooding in and you’re sitting in a mound of disappointment.

In life we have different seasons and some are more painful than others. One place we can turn to with complete understanding is the apostle Paul. He certainly understood this feeling.

^“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.”

-2 Corinthians 1:8-10

Landing in a place in which we need to rely on God is landing on gold, even though it may not seem like it at the time.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

-James 1:2-3

That’s a difficult verse to swallow. Amen?

No one is exempt from hardships, trials, disappointments, and pain. It’s what we do with those discouragements that matters the most. We can allow each to make us better or bitter. We can choose to continue to pour ourselves out and keep being faithful, doing the next right thing, one thing at a time.

We can allow the hurt to mold us and form us for better use. We can trust God and look to Jesus with every day. We can believe God when He says He loves us and is working for our good. We can remember to take care of ourselves and be good to ourselves while we are in and out of the valley; and be prepared to climb that next mountain and remember to celebrate when we reach the top of that mountain. Because after you’ve camped in the valley it will be oh so much sweeter when you get to the top of the hill.

It will happen again. Life is peaks and valleys, and along the way whichever season you are in, God is there carrying you all the way.

Cling to God and allow Him to produce perseverance in you.

Trusting God and holding on ever so tight is not a bad place to be. In fact, it just might be the best place to be.

Fondly,

Lu

“The Intimacy You Crave: Straight Talk about Sex and Pancakes” by Lucille Williams is now available on pre-order. Order your copy today. As wedding season approaches get a copy of “From Me to We” by Lucille Williams and give a gift of lasting love. Subscribe to LuSays for weekly encouragement.