Devotional - Words Of Encouragment

I'm a grateful believer I struggle with alcoholism and codependency. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever had a night where you just can't fall asleep? You tossed and turned and maybe the night stretched on and on and on and you just felt like you were never going to sleep again? I have these kind of nights all the time. I have what I consider undiagnosed insomnia. And a few weeks ago, I went through a stretch where I didn't sleep more than an hour or two for three, four nights in a row. And I remember in the middle of those nights, there were times where I thought, man, I don't think I'm ever going to fall asleep again. Now of course, after a few days of that, I finally did fall asleep. And maybe that's not something that you have struggled with or that you've gone through in your life. But I think all of us have those moments where something is happening in our lives and it feels like this is just never going to stop. Maybe for you, it's a season of grief. I know for me, as I've been grieving over the last year or so, there have been moments where it feels like this is just how life is now. Maybe for you, you've been going through something and it just feels like every time you just about turn the corner, you just can't make the change or life isn't cooperating. Maybe you find yourself thinking this is just how it's always going to be. Maybe you've asked yourself the question is, is this as good as it gets? Is this the life that God promises me? I want to encourage you with saying that although it's not found in the Bible, it is very much a biblical concept. And that saying is this too shall pass. You've probably heard that a million times. But when we go through some of our hardest times, I think it's encouraging to remember those words that this too shall pass.

Like I said, it's not actually said in the Bible, but Paul tells us this in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 16 and 17. He says, "Therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." Listen, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. Since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. I love these verses of hope because they say to me, these things that you're going through in comparison with eternity are going to feel light and momentary. Now maybe you're hearing me and you go, Johnny, what I'm going through is not light. It is not momentary. I hear you. I feel your pain. I relate to that. But what Paul is telling us is that we are focused on what we can see, the here, the here now, these 80, 90, maybe 100 years we get to live on this earth if we're lucky. And he's saying, you're focusing so much on that. But what you're forgetting is that this is not your home. This is not your reality. Your home is in heaven if you have a relationship with Christ Jesus. So what we can do when we're focusing on our pain, when we're focusing on the negative things, what we can do is we can instead decide to focus on Jesus. What we can do is decide to focus on what we believe rather than what we perceive. If you're going through a hard time right now, please don't hear me flippantly dismissing that saying, oh, get over it. Think about something else. That's not what I think Paul is saying, and it's certainly not what I am saying. What I'm saying is that when we're going through hard times, one of the most important things we can do is tell ourselves the truth.

I've shared this with you before, but I'm a believer who struggles with anxiety and anxiety lies to me. Anxiety says all of these problems are insurmountable. Anxiety looks at things that aren't problems and turns them into problems. And what I have learned to do with counseling and step study groups and all kinds of different things is to tell myself the truth when my anxiety is screaming at me. If anxiety is saying, you're never going to get out of this, I need to tell myself the truth about what's really happening in my situation. anxiety is saying this relationship is over because when we haven't had a confrontation yet. I need to tell myself the truth. And this is what I'm suggesting we do when we go through hard times. Hard times are inevitable. We're all gonna go through them. Maybe you're in one right now. Maybe you just came out of one or maybe you're heading in to one. But what each of us can do is remember that no matter how bad they are, they're temporary. Now there's a flip side to this too. It's about our good times. I like to think that good times are never going to end. But the truth is, this too shall pass. None of us gets a free pass on life where we just get to have good times all the time. Our joy is complete all the time and our pain never happens. Now the truth about life is that we go through those things all the time,

sometimes at the same time. Have you ever had that? Where you're going through a really hard time and then a moment of joy comes in but it doesn't break through and just change the hard time completely? Or maybe the other way around, you're going through some really good stuff. And then something painful happens but it's not enough to derail the joy in your life. I think that's actually the goal. Is that we can find this life where we're focused on the eternal. We're focused on what is unseen. The things of heaven. So when the things that we see shake us, when they hurt us, when they cause us pain, we can say, yes, that's real. I need to acknowledge that. I need to face it. I need to take it to my group. I need to process it with my sponsor. I don't want to hide it and just say, "Nope, it's all going to be okay." 'Cause that's what, that's denial. But instead, I want to do something about it. But when my brain, when my feelings, when my circumstances say, "This is how it's going to be forever." I need to bring that to the truth.

And I need to see that it's a light and momentary trouble in light of heaven. I need to see that it's passing. I need to see that outwardly, it might feel like I'm being wasted away, but inwardly, I'm being renewed. So let me just say this. If you're hurting today, if you're struggling today, this too shall pass. Bring it to Jesus, share it with your friends, talk about it, ask for prayer. And then remind yourself, this is a momentary trouble in light of eternity. How is God using this pain to grow me internally? And then take a minute, pray, and say, God, what are some things that are unseen that I can focus on? While all of the things I can see are so painful, what are some things I can focus on about heaven, about you, about what you may be trying to accomplish in my life and in the lives of others? I wish I could say that painful times were avoidable, but that's what got many of us, myself included, in recovery in the first place. I turned to alcohol and other methods of trying to escape the pain of life so that I could have a pain-free existence. But what I found is that cause pain in my life and in the lives of those around me as well. Our life here on earth is not going to be perfect.

And so if you're struggling, if you're hurting, remember, if you have a relationship with Jesus, there's an eternity waiting for us where we will step into a pain-free, a sadness-free, a joyful experience. I gotta be honest, I'm not great at this. I've been learning this this last year. And so I wanna encourage you, if you're like me, you're not great at it. And in the middle of those sleepless nights, you toss and turn and maybe yell at God. Am I ever going to sleep? Again, turn your eyes to Jesus. There's a song we used to sing in Sunday school. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of this earth will go strangely dim in the light of his wonder and grace. Sometimes those kids' songs are so powerful. So I wanna encourage you, if you're struggling today, turn your eyes to Jesus. Don't deny it, don't hide from it. But remember, in light of eternity, these are light and momentary troubles. I hope you have a great day today. [BLANK_AUDIO]