THERE WAS ONE PARTICULAR DAY in my life when I felt:
- Overwhelmed
- Alone
- Exhausted—mostly from depression and stress
I was twentysomething. I’d give you the backstory, but why bother. You’ve probably been there, too.
Instead, let me pass along the Bible passage that helped drag me out of that spiritual ditch.
The words came from a prophet. He was trying to encourage Jews who had been deported from their homeland, and living in what is now Iraq. But his words worked for me, too.
I read it from the old Living Bible paraphrase, Isaiah 40:27-31:
O Jacob, O Israel, how can you say the Lord doesn’t see your troubles and isn’t being fair? Don’t you know by now that the everlasting God, the Creator of the farthest parts of the earth, never grows faint or weary? No one can fathom the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak. Even the youths shall be exhausted, and the young men will all give up. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
It worked for me then. Works for me now.
Well said Steve. Sometimes we feel like we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders and it is comforting to know we are not in this alone. The “second set of footprints in the sand” has helped me from time to time