Taking the Risk

There is a moment in our lives when everything seems to be going wrong that all we want to do is give up. Sometimes we are standing on the edge faced with demons, things haunting us reflections of our past, and difficulties in facing the future, that all we want to do is jump off. To us that would just seem so much easier, and it would put an end to all of our problems. Why not just make everything go away? While standing on the ledge has there ever been someone you feel is calling you to step off the ledge, telling you that they want to help you? Almost like someone is trying to save your life! What about the person who has actually been there to help you and pick up the pieces? Throughout all of our lives we are faced with this dilemma, faced with all the negative, or difficult situations that leave us handing on the edge, but how are we handling them? Are we focusing too much on the hurt and despair or are we looking for the hope of the day so that we don’t end our lives at night? Have you ever considered or even accepted the fact that while standing on this ledge, that you are never actually alone. You may feel physically alone, but do you know that God is with you? Do you know that Jesus wandered in the desert for forty days by himself? That Job was tested by God and sat their alone wondering what he did to deserve going through something like this, or that Joseph was placed in a pit alone. Even though they may have felt physically alone and felt abandoned, God was there with them the entire time. And God was using them in there time so that someone else would understand that they were not alone. Maybe through what you are dealing with, God wants to show you that you are not alone and your situation can be used to help someone else. But, maybe that is just to much. Does jumping off the ledge just seem easier and that it would solve your problems or make them go away faster? Is that actually the best thing for you to do? What is really being asked of you in this situation? The hurt of the day coming from the world can lead us to want to jump off the cliff, but that could also lead to death. That isn’t the answer. Even though that seems like the best answer and alternative when you die that may look like its solving the problem, but that actually isn’t solving the problem at all. When you get picked on or ridiculed, and choose to end your life, it stops for you, but nor for others who may be going through the same things. You as a child of God, can be used by God to show others how to rise above this and realize their potential. They are more than what the world tells them they are, and that no matter what they’ve done, or how bad they hurt,  they can come home because in this moment through what Christ did on the cross, they are perfect before God. This is your time to put down your past and walk away from all the things that have caused your life to be what seems like a serious of destructive behaviors. To say that you are done living this life the way that you have been and you want the chance to feel differently, to know that their is something better out there for you, and then turn around and walk away from these destructive behaviors is hope. It is taking the risk to rise above and entrusting God, that He is not going to leave you or forsake you. (Joshua 1:5). That is the only way you are going to make a change in your life. That is what keeps you from taking the plunge and ending.  However that is not easy, and sometimes its going to be hard. There are emotions that you are going to wrestle with, and things that are going to be very painful, but some of them might be very rewarding if you let God do what he needs to do. This also might take some friendship and encouragement from others so you know that you are not going through this alone. Just like when God was with Joseph, Job and Jesus as they faced their difficult circumstances but didn’t stop trusting in what God could do for them. Saying this, I don’t try and take away any of the pain, hurt, bitterness, frustration, hatred, longing, desire, regret, or anything else you may be struggling with. Those are deep rooted issues, and I have no idea what you are actually going through, but I understand you are hurting and for whatever reason you think you have to handle this all on your own. But thats not the truth. The truth is that God wants to help you through this, whatever it may be and He wants others to battle for you as well, but are you letting Him? Sometimes life is hard, I get that and I am not trying to make you feel like you can’t have any pain; when people try to put fluff around it doesn’t make it any better. However, there comes a point when doing what you are doing doesn’t seem to be helping and you need someone or something else who will take the reigns. That is when you have to learn to trust God, because He is the only one that will chisel away those walls. There are people that God has placed in our lives that can help though, and there may be someone who is trying to convince you to step away from that ledge. Telling you to stop believing all those lies and move into the future. Those might be the worst words for you to hear, but they also might be the words you need to hear. There are people who are our friends for a reason and that is because most of the time they can speak words to us that we may not want to hear, but know that we need to hear, and eventually we can respect them for it. When we build relationships with people, we put at trust in them and place our lives in their hands.  This is exactly what we are supposed to do with God. We are supposed to place our entire lives in God’s hand and trust Him. Just like trusting our friends, trusting God can be really difficult and it may mean having to hear and do some things we might not want at that time. More often than not however, its what we need. We have to use this to help us grow and find our hope. When we entrust someone with out lives, we are taking steps of faith knowing that they want good things for our lives. We also need to understand that God does not intend to harm us, but to give us a hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) There is a reason that you are going through this situation, and God wants to use that. God wants to use you through it. The instruction might be hard to swallow, but the hope we find from that, might allow us to have a brighter future.