Where does your strength come from?

Friday May 16, 2014

In the summer of  2011, I hit rock bottom in my own personal life. This one sin I had kept hidden from the world finally caught up to me. If that wasn't worse enough, it seemed the devil wasn't done with his attacks and hit me again even stronger, leaving me in a state of confusion, and making me wonder if my life was really over. The plans I had set were completely wiped away. So..to cope with these events I went to who I had always used to cope since the age of 14; my boyfriends, boo things, whatever guy I was talking to or dating. They were my god, my idols.

These "friendships" were my drugs.

Naturally as we grow older we find different things to latch onto and to help us cope in life. Once it was your parents, then you out grow them and it may have been a stuffed animal, neighbor etc. The key point is as you grow up you found DIFFERENT things to help you cope. It's never just ONE constant thing. You see, as you mature you acquire different needs and so different coping personalities are needed to speak into these changes you continue to experience as you grow older. 

(Where does your strength come from?)

For me when I became off age to date by society standards, my strength came from my boyfriends. That was my escape, my drug, my oasis. They were in and out of my life, no one bf stayed too long. The reason why these men were constantly being overturned and going through a revolving door was because they didn't give me permanent satisfaction.  In making them my coping mechanism I received TEMPORARY relief, TEMPORARY comfort, nothing they gave me ever lasted.

So, as I look at society, people in my age group, older and younger, I hear things like, "I can't wait to get off work, I am going to hit up happy hour then I gotta go, sleep and the cycle starts again tomorrow", or "Gosh, we ain't married yet but sis that sex is all I need right now", or "If I don't hit this blunt I don't know how else I will survive." Many of my sister and brothers are receiving their strength from temporary pleasures in this world. 

It's evident they are temporary because one, with alcohol, you drink it, you feel a buzz, it passes through your system and your problems still remain. 

When you engulf any type of substance and or drug you get a high, it passes through your system and your problems still remain. 

When you put your hope, trust, and all you have in humans, your unsaved boyfriend, girlfriend, wife or husband,the day they hurt you, cheat on you, abuse you, or even leave this earth you see the frail manner in their existence. You become aware ones life can be taken away at any moment.

The Lord tells us, humans in general and even thinking of ourselves, we are frail, to not put our trust in our strength that will one day cease and fail.  God tells us to not lean on our own thoughts that continuously think evil things:

1 Peter 1:24

King James Version (KJV)

24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

Isaiah 2:22

Don’t put your trust in mere humans.
    They are as frail as breath.
    What good are they?

finally...

Jeremiah 17:9

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?

So no human being can be an effective coping mechanism as many of us choose to think.

You see for many years I took my strength and had my fix from things of this world. Then a a little under two years I encountered the greatest love of all. A person, God that truly when I run to him, trust in him, ask questions to him, and cry out to him he answers, holds, and comforts me. That strength, I found in Jesus. Jesus became and is truly a constant. A friend, lover, redeemer that has never changed and will never fail.

Then one would ask "Janet! How does God comfort and hold you, he is not even real!"Well sis, brother, God is real. Although not physically in front of me,  when you accept him he inputs the holy spirit in you to help you feel his presence and understand him. Spiritually he is all around too, his beauty and grace is all around us in his creations of this world.

1 John 4:12

12 No one has ever seen God. God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

If you've said ok, my current coping mechanism isn't really working and I think I want to try something different.  In  Isaiah 64:6 it lets us know:

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. SO you aren't the only one who has dabbled in the worlds ways of things. I have, all Christians have. 

I am inviting you to try Jesus. He is real, he still saves, and he is still in the business of transforming and saving lives today. With God you don't have to worry about gossip from humans, failing health/organs due to substance abuse, overdose, and heartbreak. His words when read and believed will assure you and will comfort you. Jesus is ready to truly take you by the hand and guide you once you say Yes to him, and no to everything in this world.

Psalm 23:1-6

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

It works for me and I know it will work for you! I love you and I am praying for you.

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From your Sister in Christ ,

Janet Adeola Songonuga