I
ran across this and absolutely had to share. If you do not find yourself in the
paragraphs below, you didn’t read it right. Read it again. Never, Friends, think,
“Oh, I know that” or “I do that already” because just about the time you think
you are spiritually educated enough not to read something like the message
below…you will find yourself on the floor barely able to lift your eyes, much
less pick yourself up.
Stop and Surrender by Charles R. Swindoll
So much for Paul. How
about you? Fast forward to the twenty-first century. Are you afflicted and
burdened excessively? Do you feel as if you're under such intense pressure
these days that you, too, are close to despair? I have some surprising news:
you're exactly where God wants you to be. It took all these years to get you
this low, this needy. Now, look up!
Are you feeling crushed
and confused, misunderstood and beaten down? Resist the temptation to roll up
your sleeves and muster a self-imposed recovery plan. This is your opportunity!
Rather than fighting back, surrender. Embrace your weakness. Tell your heavenly
Father that you are trusting in the strength of His power. If Paul could do it,
so can you. So can I.
At this moment I am facing
a few impossible situations. No doubt, so are you. To be honest, I'm too weak
to handle any of them. So are you. I'm often near tears. I'm frequently
discouraged. There's hardly a week that passes that I don't slump into a mild
feeling of discouragement. Sound familiar? Admit it! Some nights I don't sleep
well. There are times that I absolutely weep out of disappointment in some
individual's failure . . . or my own. You too? You and I need to face the fact
that we will never be able to handle any of these pressures alone. When we
acknowledge this, and not until, His strength will be released in us.
Are you ready to face the
next battle with a new strategy? Okay, start
by surrendering. Instead of returning to your same-old method—doing
a month of mental push-ups, talking yourself into looking strong and acting
brave, putting on the gloves and stepping into the ring with swagger, relying
on your own strength to win and succeed and impress. Stop and surrender. Drop
to your knees and cry out to God. Admit your inadequacies, and declare your
inability to keep going on your own.
If you're finally ready to
step aside and let Him have His way, say so; then do it. He will honor your
admission of weakness by showing Himself strong through you. But if you don't,
He won't.
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