By Agnes Amos-Coleman
MY friends, as you know, the global pandemic has impacted our daily lives and caused discouragement. This emotion comes in various ways such as isolation, unmet and unrealistic expectations, depression, health issues, fear and so on.
Serving God does not exempt us from going through the season of discouragement. I too continue to go through a season full of discouraging situation and circumstances. Whilst I struggle to stay focused, I daily choose to intentionally encourage myself through prayer and meditation on God’s faithfulness in the past, present and expectation for the future.
Because, we are all prone to this crippling emotion which can sometimes overwhelm us with the feeling of “I can’t carry on”; “I give up”; “I am lonely and isolated”; “I can’t make it in life”; “I have had enough”; and so on, transitioning from our season of discouragement to encouragement requires an intentional state of mind that focuses on:
- Drawing strength from the Word of God – Our season of discouragement is not the time to call into question God’s love toward us. Doing so will be playing right into the hands of Satan. God has not forgotten us even in our discouragement. Isaiah 49:14-16 reminds us of this truth that if a mother forgets the baby at her breast, God will not forget us. I don’t know about you, I find this very comforting indeed.
Armed with this truth, we should intentionally choose to encourage ourselves by engaging in activities that will help us on our journey to recovery from discouragement. Personally, I have found that praising and thanking God in my season of discouragement works all the time. It takes the focus of me and puts the focus back on God and as a result, the heaviness of heart fades away and its replaced with hope.
If you are a Christ follower going through the season of discouragement, don’t despair, God will encourage you in this season. However, step out in faith by reaching out to others in your Christian community and ask what you can do for others – not what they can do for you, pray without ceasing, praise and thank God for what He has done, is doing and will do and watch God turn your season of discouragement around for His glory. If you are currently not a Christ follower, today is the day of salvation – come!
All glory to God!
Ages Amos-Coleman is a published writer and business consultant. She can be reached at her website. | You can buy her books on Amazon.com
