South Strand Celebrate Recovery

Read Hebrews 10:35-39
Rising to a challenge reveals hidden abilities within you that otherwise would have remained dormant. You don’t know what you’re capable of until you have to cope. Wise people like you and me have always understood the connection between suffering and growth. When there is something great inside of a man/woman, there will be obstacles in their path that are designed to stimulate their minds, harden their natures, and improve wherever they may be incompetent. All the great people like you and me must have ENDURANCE.
• The word endurancemeans the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, or stress, or other adverse conditions.
· What have you had to endure through?
· Where has your greatest challenge come from?
· Did you ever think you would have made it this far?
· Do you learn/grow from your suffering?
I've gotten very good at scheduling my life, scheduling the scene and preparing myself for anything, as well as saving the energy, consuming the energy, knowing when to go for it, and having the available reserves to be able to do that. You have to think about that because it's endurance. Does anybody think that you didn't get what you wanted because you didn't have the talent or the strength or the commitment to get it? No, you lacked endurance!
An olive has to go through three stages before the oil can run: It has to go through the shaking, the beating, and the pressing. Just like the olive, some of us feel like we went through the shaking, the beating, and the pressing, and we are right. But just like that olive, you went through what you went through just to get your oil (the Purpose in you) to flow. One of the things you must learn to develop in this endurance process is how to handle DISCOURAGEMENT.
• The word discouragementmeans to oppose by expressing disapproval.
· Who discourages you?
· What encourages you?
· Where do you get the most disapproval?
· How do you think you handled going through the shaking, the beating, and the pressing?
Every great work, every big accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement, comes apparent failure and discouragement. Perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this that in all things distinguishes how far you can go with God.

Cry out to God
Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I (Psalm 61:1-2 NIV).
O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon--from Mount Mizar (Psalm 42:6).
Most scholars believe this cry to God was during the time that David's son was trying to kill him. That ranks pretty high on the overwhelming scale.

Can you imagine the pressure and weight of that?

When David says his heart is faint, he's describing a heart that feels overwhelmed, isolated, cut off, and far from God.

While our hearts can feel overwhelmed and isolated, God tells us those feelings are not the end of the story. Honest prayer releases the burdens carried by an overwhelmed heart. Burdens it was never meant to carry by itself.

You and I can take this cue from David and cry out to the Lord as well. Tell Him about your pain. Shout to Him if you must. He wants to hear your cry, and, best of all, He will not turn away from you when you call to Him, even if it's in anger.

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
“The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears.” Psalm 34:17
In the most honest moment of my life with God, I cried out like this, too. I was tired and alone and felt like a failure as a father, husband, provider, and employee. I had come to the end of my rope after trying to balance all the plates I had spinning. I was completely overwhelmed and had no more intellect, will, or motivation to fix my issues.

In that moment, I poured everything out to God on the floor of our closet in a guttural cry that I had never done before. It was a yell and a cry at once. I was in over my head, and I fervently sought God in that moment.

After that time of prayer to God, I sensed something had changed. Not my circumstances, but in my heart, my perspective on my situation changed.

So, call out to God today in your state of being overwhelmed. Don't try to process your burden mentally or logically. Don't sugar-coat it. Don't recycle your burden over and over in your mind. Don't hold onto your pain.

God sees you in your state of being overwhelmed. He knows you still. He cares for you. God wants you to come to Him, talk to Him, lean on Him, and cry out to Him, for that is where healing begins.

Reflection
What sense of overwhelm, frustration or intense burden do you carry today? What is that emotion like? Will you get alone and cry out to God for relief?