Have you ever noticed how things usually get harder before they get better? 

• By candidasullivan
• May 6, 2024
• No Comments

I’m struggling right now. The constant everyday grind feels overwhelming, and my soul feels defeated. Regardless of how hard I try, I can’t make any progress. And I don’t understand. 

I try. Nothing happens. I try again with a little more effort. Nothing happens. I cry, pray, and ask God again. But He doesn’t change things, which makes me even more stressed. 

The enemy uses these moments to stomp all over my hopes and dreams. 

He shows up with a bag of lies that my aching heart believes. His ultimate goal is to defeat me so he can beat me. 

Satan wants me to feel helpless and hopeless, so I will give up. He wants me to quit praying and to numb myself through the pain. So he works in my mind and heart. 

The enemy can’t cause us to quit or make us do anything. We have free will. But he can’t paint us a realistic picture of despair, with touches of hopelessness and helplessness. If he can drag my emotions through the mud long enough, he will break me down and make defeat seem like the best option. 

But it’s not. The pain of quitting would be greater than the pain of enduring. 

If we could see the greatness of the gift beyond the tribulation, we would understand the enemy’s desperation to stop us. 

When we magnify the problem, we can’t see God’s hands working so beautifully and delicately in us. We only feel the pressure of the molding because we need to focus on the vision for the blessing. 

But underneath all the layers of pain, dirt, and disobedience is a treasured gift, so deeply desired we can’t fully imagine its glory. 

We can rest in the truth that God heard our prayers, wants to answer them, and give us the gifts we desire. 

God also wants us—all of us, the true essence of who we are. He wants us to love Him and to seek Him fully. God didn’t give us the dream for us to do it without Him, He wants us to be a team. 

While we are not strong enough to defeat the enemy or to do God’s work alone, we gain God-sized superpowers when we invite Him into everything. God has the power, ability, and resources to help us accomplish our dreams. 

He won’t do it for us. God won’t bless us our mess. It takes a fully aligned heart and mind to bind Satan and to do God’s work. 

We can find some joy and success, but not the level that our hearts desire. It takes being so aligned with God that we don’t know where our thoughts stop and His begin. We have to be One with God. 

When we get there, the blessings are so abundant, even amid the struggles, that we want it all. We want every drop of abundance that God wants to pour into us, and we will do whatever it takes. 

So, we question our thoughts.

Pay attention to the feelings of hopelessness.

And see who we are having a conversation with.

Talking to God makes me feel good. Even when He corrects me, it is lovingly. God wants me to do good. He doesn’t tear me down or shame me into obedience. God inspires me to do better. 

Shame and condemnation come from the enemy. Therefore, when Satan tells me that I am bad and makes sin my identity, I KNOW that I need to RUN TO GOD. 

Satan wants me to forget who I am and to surrender to him. But I am so thankful that God always knows right where I am. He comes to me in times of need and helps me. The presence of the Lord reminds me of my TRUE IDENTITY IN CHRIST. 

I AM HIS BELOVED CHILD. 

The enemy can’t get to God, so he attacks God’s children. So when we feel the enormity of the struggle, we must remember it is an attack on our identity. Satan wants us to give up. He wants us to quit. But I’m so thankful that when my strength falters, the power of my Lord begins. His is my light amid the darkness. God is my waymaker. And He knows the true power of my gift and the reason Satan wants to destroy it because God created it and gave it to me. 

Romans 12:21 KJV

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. 

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