As the mud pits in life get deep, I’ve been trained to press into the Holy Spirit and keep going.
When life circumstances take me down, and I find myself flat on my back with my heart being shattered into pieces, I make a conscious decision to set aside the raw pain for a later day and rise anyway. I choose to peel myself out of bed and follow my routine as if my days are “normal,” but with Divine strategy in mind. And believe me, when I’m doing this, I am not going through the motions of life. I’m fully engaged with the Holy Spirit, entering into what I call “warrior mode.”
Going from one mud pit to the next seems to be a continual theme in my life, and I’m over it . . . it’s exhausting!
You feel me?
But really, I can’t stay with that mindset in the middle of a pit (or ever)!
I can’t fixate on my fatigue or wonder why God’s allowing so much pain and heartache to come my way. If that’s my focus, I’ll quickly become paralyzed, which will ultimately prevent me from trusting Him, and in faith, getting up, believing He is with me and He is for me.
A self-defeating mindset will easily derail my focus, leading me straight back to Mud Moocher. It’ll cause weakness in my spirit that will send me sinking quickly, making me a victim of the mud.
I do not have time for that kind of mindset — I have to conquer the mud!
I’ve learned to tune into the Holy Spirit in the middle of the pit, thinking quickly and strategically. I’ve learned to quiet my own feelings, emotions, and physical exhaustion in these critical moments, recognizing that at some point, I will give myself the space to face the emotions.
But when I see fire, it’s not the time for me to sit in a closet and cry about what’s being burned . . . I need to act quickly and grab that hose!
We can’t be responsive to the urgency of a situation if we shrink back with emotion.
Seriously!
Never lie down or shut down, regardless of how messy life gets. Train yourself to respond in a way that’s beyond your human capabilities . . . IN GOD’S STRENGTH! He is our ever-present help in our times of need.
I think most of us would agree that when life gets painfully overwhelming, we automatically want to retreat or numb out.
That can look different for each of us.
It could be a matter of emotionally checking out.
Lying down to the emotions and wallowing in what’s happening instead of becoming proactive.
Responding out of fear and adding to the chaos.
Busying ourselves so we don’t have to “deal” with the overwhelming situation.
Depression can set in, or anxious thoughts that things will never change as we take ourselves down a self-defeating thought process, making us the tail and not the head, which is in contradiction to what God says:
The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.
—Deuteronomy 28:13 NLT
We have to rise, and as we do, we have to remind ourselves of God’s Word and stand on His promises.
My life has had so many trenches filled with mud, and as I bring God to the center of each one, He gives me His perspective. He’s trained me to be what I call “a front-liner.” I feel like my spiritual life is a mirror of what basic training in military boot camp would look like.
Did you know basic training in the military has a purpose beyond building physical strength?
I think most of us look at military training as hard-core, almost abusive. Maybe we just look at the outer appearance and think it’s all about being physically fit in order to have endurance on the battlefield. While physical strength is part of it, the other critical component is the fact that on the battlefield, soldiers will be stripped both physically and mentally, so much so that they cannot rely on their feelings or emotions by any means. They are trained to respond to the command and training of their leading officer.
It doesn’t matter how they feel or what is going on around them.
No matter how much they’re tortured emotionally and physically.
No matter what they see with their own eyes, people dying right next to them, the human limits that are placed on them, they are trusting the one who trained them, and they are responding to their lead, period!
They are trained to go into their mission and finish it.
No matter the cost or the pain – they respond with action.
They are trained to hear and do.
To finish and come out alive!
An officer didn’t earn the stars on his uniform by staying in bed and lying down when the enemy started to take ground.
No!
He stood anyway and pushed back to regain the lost territory.
We all have a “frontline” assignment in life, and we need to fix our eyes on our lead commander, trust Him with everything, and keep going!
Let’s stop allowing our emotions to override our faith and keep our eyes fixed on the path set before us.
God is on the throne.
He is faithful to His Word.
You are an empowered vessel of the Holy Spirit — more than a conqueror in Christ.
Put your full attention on the Lord and seek Him for wisdom in this hour. He will give you divine strategy and empower you to overcome the mud!
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.
-Hebrews 10:36 (NIV)
