Sound of Surviving

“Take your stand on the Rock of Ages. Let death, let the judgment come: the victory is Christ’s and yours through Him.”
– D.L. Moody

Feeling broken and barely holding on…

Isn’t that how we feel inside when we think of that one struggle. The one most people would never think we deal with. Depression haunts us and clouds our day as we battle the thoughts as we wear the mask of “I’m fine.”

How in the world are we to make it when the pain is so great that we would rather end it, than take one more step? How can we get from saying, “it is over” to “it isn’t over yet”?

Think about that struggle you keep hidden in your pocket that if the world knew you would feel so humiliated. Think about the one you are keeping secret from your church, your spouse, the small group you lead. What are the chapters you rip out of your life so no one knows?

How are we to survive?

Too Many Bullet Holes

I didn’t ask to struggle with a disability. I didn’t ask to be bullied. I didn’t ask to be molested. I didn’t ask for the emotional abuse from friends and those who were supposed to be closer than friends. I didn’t ask to struggle with same-sex attraction, depression, suicidal thoughts, and the daily pain of my disability.

And you didn’t ask for your past and your struggle. We didn’t go to the “Life’s Supermarket” and pick out our struggles and life story like choosing cereal. Yet, isn’t that how many people treat us? We are told our messy story is not worth telling because too many bullet holes. We are told we aren’t “golden” enough to be an effective testimony. So, we walk away with shame that our stories do not matter, and our lives are too messed up to be be any good to the Church or to God.

Yet, that is man’s opinion. God knew what was going to happen. Psalm 139:16 states for a fact that God has written every one of our days in his books. Nothing slipped his writing of our lives.

He even planned to send His own people into exile. His story of them involved their painful extraction from their homes into the chaotic living of exile. Yet, he gave them a promise: Jeremiah 29:11. He promised them a future. And isn’t that what we want? We want a future. Jeremiah 29:11 is for us as well. He knows that we feel like an outsider in exile, but God promises a future. Our lives are not too full of bullet holes to be outside this promise.

Not Too Far

I thought for the longest time that because I struggle with same-sex attraction that I was too far gone. I felt like God saved me from all the other sins and struggles, but that one. Why? Because of Romans 1:26-27. I had never acted physically on these thoughts, but did these thoughts mean God gave me up?

No. No one is too far gone for God. Ephesians 2:1-5 describes our state of being lost in sin. It describes how we practiced sin in thought and action. Yet, there is no list of sins. However, the tone of the passage changes because the focus in not on us. It is on God.

“But God”

One of the most powerful interjections in all of Scripture. But God, because of his love for me (even though I struggle and fall and want to end it), and because of his great mercy he made me alive in Christ. I Corinthians 6:9-11 promises that all sins are washed and cleansed because of Jesus.

Our struggles and our sins do not make us too far from God. Jesus went to find people who needed His healing (Mark 5:1-20). He knows your pain and struggle. And so He took on your pain and struggle so you and I could be known as righteous before God (II Corinthians 5:21). Christ’s blood takes my thoughts and shameful struggles and covers them, cleanses them, and gives me a whole new life.

Others may say you are too far from the grace of God. Jesus condemns those words (Matthew 23:13). God sent his son because whoever believes may have eternal life. The ones who have been forgiven much will be the ones who love Christ the most. God says you are not too far from Him. He gave up His own life so you could be with Him. The people around you are not God. God says, “Come, be forgiven because of Jesus. You are not too far gone for my love.”

Not Done Fighting

There are good days and there are bad days. There are days where we just want to give up and give in. We feel like we cannot take another step. The pain stabs us. Our struggles suffocate us. Our pasts haunt us. I’ve been there. Days where I thought “If only I was not born.” “If only I could just get out of this life.” The dark thoughts fog our minds and we lose sight of the truth, and of our God. We can’t see, and therefore we fall to our knees and cry. We can’t go on fighting.

Yet, when sight is gone and we feel the clutches of hell dragging us to our hellish fate, there is one word of hope: Faith. II Corinthians 5:7 instructs us to walk by faith. It is when all hope is lost, and all we can do is say, “God, I am walking to you even though I cannot see.” We don’t just have these instructions, God gave us a whole chapter to show us how people without sight walked by faith: Hebrews 11. Pleasing God is not being perfect or having this “golden testimony.” Pleasing God is walking each step of each moment in total blindness by faith.

The world tells me to give in to my desires and thoughts. God’s Word tells me it is wrong. Yet, there are times where I just want to walk out of work, out of my marriage, and out of my life to just give in. But, Romans 5 promises me that I have victory. Christ gives me victory. The fight is not over. Each day we feel battered and bruised, yet we walk by faith. And from that faith grows a hope that is permanent (I Peter 1:3-9).

Don’t give up, because our God has never given up on you. The fight is not over. The fight is by faith, and not by sight.

You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me

Others can say I won’t make it. They can use their words to push me down and crush me because of my struggles. They can say I won’t stay around, and I will just leave the faith. They can say I don’t have the qualifications for ministry. They can say I have no future, because of my struggles.

However, they don’t know my God. My God is the one who gives a new life to those in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). My is God is the one who uses all things for my good (Romans 8:28). My God is the one who interrupted my sinful life to raise me to new life with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5). My God is the one who can use my past, my imperfections, and my struggles to bring Him glory and to show off His love for a dark world (Esther 4:14; Exodus 4:11-12).

I am far from over. Why? Because it is not me that gives myself the approval. It is not others who give me the approval. It is God who works in me and will complete his work (Philippians 2:13). You haven’t seen the last of me, because of my God.

This is the sound of surviving: seeing our stories as God sees them, seeing how far his love reaches to us, and fighting each day without sight, but with faith.

You may feel like giving up today. You may feel like you cannot go one more step. You may feel like your struggle hurts too much and is going to crush you. But, it is not over yet. God is in charge, and not the people around you. This is far from over, and you haven’t seen the last of me, because my rock I stand on is Christ.

This is the sound of surviving, and this leads to thriving.