What to do when discouragement comes back?

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, and from the heights of Hermon, from the Hill Mizar.” (see Psalm 42:5-6)

O my God, my soul is cast down within me… Have you ever noticed that sometimes, without understanding why, discouragement comes knocking at our hearts again? What do you do when, just when you think you were done with it, it returns with a vengeance?

I firmly believe that it is good to speak to God like you speak to a friend and honestly share your sorrows with Him. David, the man after God’s own heart, understood this: “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.” (the Bible, Psalm 6:8)

Jesus Himself suffered anguish in Gethsemane: ““Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.” (see the Bible, Matthew 26:41-43)

Sometimes we’re weak, but consider Jesus: He suffered all of this for you, so you wouldn’t have to be discouraged. Often, we’re like the disciples, as if asleep due to sadness… we prefer to flee pain rather than confront it. But discouragement is temporary. Don’t let it become permanent!

God desires for you to rise up in courage again, start moving forward again, see life once again as sweet. It is worth living. He has a future for you!

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (see the Bible, Jeremiah 29:11)

I’ll leave you today with a few words from Abraham Lincoln: “Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.”

You have a God walking beside you who desires to fill you with His strength. Nothing can stop you from succeeding!