For those few days, all I could feel was the weight on my chest.

Though not visible, its presence was undeniable.

I felt like I could not lift myself up.

Curled up on the couch, my mind spun in different directions.

There was only one place I knew I could process the hurt and sort through the questions.

One place where I could sit with the uncomfortable feelings for a while.

In His Presence.

There was only one place where I could look for a model of what to do next.

One place where I could be reminded that I needed to forgive, because forgiveness has been given to me so many times.

In His Word.

And after a few days, when the chaos in my mind had begun to settle, an image was placed in front of me once again reminding me that God sees me.

He also knows that I tend to be a visual learner.

I forced myself to go to the gym, put on my praise music and hopped on my favorite elliptical.

As I found a rhythm with my steps, my gaze and thoughts shifted to my right to see a man pulling himself up on a bar.

You will never be able to do that.

You do not have enough strength.

Then my eyes moved to the belt around his waist.

Attached to the belt were chains on either side, with a weight secured in the center.

The weight looked heavy.

Yet he kept lifting himself up.

Over and over again.

This was the question that played over in my mind: 

How can you lift yourself up when you are weighted down?

1. Prepare to bear to weight.

It is hard to imagine that this man could have lifted himself up at all, let alone with a weight attached to him, had he not trained to do so.

He prepared to pull himself up.

The path we walk will not always be a smooth one.

Some of the weights we bear will be visible, others will not.

But in His Word, God tells us we will all have difficulties.

And He gives us the hope that we can overcome them.

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33 NIV

Knowing that at some point we will have troubles shouldn’t we prepare ahead?

We do that by the daily practice of being in His Presence and in His Word.

2. Sit with it- but don’t stay with it.

I did not know the when or the why of the troubles that would come.

But I did know this:

There was only one place I knew I could process the hurt and sort through the questions.

One place where I could sit with the uncomfortable feelings for a while.

In His Presence.

God stayed with me as I sorted through the “yuck.”  

When it was time to lift myself up, I still felt unsteady.

The enemy loves to take the opportunity to get in our ear at our low points.

 You will never be able to do that. 

You do not have enough strength.

But God reminds us that it is not our strength that He uses to move us forward.

“ I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”  Philippians 4:13 NIV

3. Forgive 

Whether hurts are intentional or not, forgiveness is not always something that comes easily.

We may need to forgive others or ourselves.

But God tells us forgiveness is necessary.

He cannot do His part if we do not do ours.

“In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.”  Matthew 6:15 MSG

4. Have a grateful heart

Those days of sitting with my circumstances were not easy.

But God wants us to give thanks in all circumstances.

I was never alone.

Even in my raw emotions, I was loved and seen by the Creator of the Universe. 

For that, I am incredibly grateful.

“ Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV

Friends, I do not know what is weighing you down today.

Maybe it is visible to others, maybe it is only visible to God.

But there is One who will sit with you in your despair, give you strength to pull yourself up, and show you the way to move forward.

And He will love you through it all.

That is something to be grateful for always.

We are never alone, never unloved.

Praise be!