07/20/2022
Struggling!
Written by Esther Seaton Dummer
January 2000
If you suddenly found yourself overboard in the middle of a raging sea, with the waves tossing you about, you would desperately battle to live. You would stretch yourself with every fiber of your being to keep your head above water. Your dignity would matter little. You would flail your arms, kick your legs, and open your mouth and scream for help!
You would not give up.
You would grab at the first chance of rescue, however it came to you. You would look for the shoreline and try to swim to safety. You would look for the boat you fell out of to turn around and come back for you. You would even look for a piece of the timber from the boat, even if it had broken up, to hang onto to keep yourself afloat.
We all desire life too much to just give it up without a fight. Our nature and basic instinct for survival is a powerful source from which we draw anytime our life is threatened.
Life is interesting in that it offers us life or death on many occasions.
We “fall overboard” in many ways – emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally.
Pressures come into our lives from many circumstances – our homes, jobs, churches, children, friendships, marriages, health, enemies, money problems, and so much more.
When we hit a snag in life and our boat capsizes us, sending us spilling out into the angry waves of confrontation, loss, hurt, pain, disease, fear or any other number of disasters, we have a tendency to sink too quickly.
Unlike our physical lives, which we will fight for more readily, we quickly succumb to our woes and troubles, our mental and emotional pain or loss, and slump into despair.
For some reason, that which hits our spiritual, emotional or mental life, seems, at times, so overwhelming that we withdraw, lamenting, into hiding.
In times like this, if someone was to ask you, “How are you?” you may quickly reply, “I’m fine, just struggling a little…” But if the truth were known, we are not struggling a lot of the time, but rather, languishing.
We may be going under for the third or fourth time and have yet to open our mouth and yell, “HELP!” We haven’t flailed our arms or kicked our feet – we have sunk.
We are in over our heads with the waters of life’s circumstances and stresses drowning us.
We feel as if we can’t draw in a good, long, deep breath because there is no relief in sight.
Like a wounded animal, we crawl off from the flock and seclude ourselves. It is the nature of humanity to withdraw and “lick our wounds.” Many times people will suddenly be absent from the church. A call or visit will find them sitting in their personal darkness, stricken with grief, unforgiveness, revenge – feeling abandoned and forgotten by God and man.
It is at times like this that a person will leave a church, walk away from their families, resign their church, and give up their hopes and dreams that once were so rich in their lives.
Folks, this is where our faith comes in.
Do we really believe that Jesus is on board our ship and walking on the seas with us?
Will He care enough to calm the storm or reach a helping hand to us? Will his servants lay down what they are doing to go and find the one who is not in the fold? Do we believe?
Matthew 8:23-26
“And when he had entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm in the sea, so much so that the ship was covered with the waves, but Jesus was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, ‘Lord save us!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you so fearful, Oh you of little faith?’ He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”
The “seas of life” can be relentless.
For some people, leaders and churches, it seems that wave after wave crashes upon them. You just barely “get your head above water” when, “boom,” here comes another one.
Self- pity, confusion and despair can set in.
Anger at God can begin to develop as we ask, “Why is God doing this to us?”
We may even blame others for “not being there for us,” or “not knowing what’s going on with us.”
All we know is, we are dying inside and, “no one seems to care.”
The truth is, most of the time, with a few exceptions, we’ve not yet opened our mouths and screamed, “HELP!” We’ve not yet lost our dignity and pride enough to kick and struggle to the top and grab for the lifelines that lay all around us.
They are there – just look.
Even this message is a lifeline.
Take it and catch hold to the truth.
If you say you are struggling, then struggle, like a drowning person struggles to keep their head above water.
Don’t let the overwhelming situation that you face “sink you.”
It is a fact that even in drowning cases, that divers have pulled up limp and lifeless bodies and performed CPR on them, to push death out and breathe life back into them.
There is not one person sunk too far that cannot be rescued and saved, but you can’t fight the rescuers.
It takes faith to just relax and let someone help you to safety.
All of your “self-helps” can sink you. Many drowned people have so much fear that they “climb all over the rescuers,” pushing them under to save themselves.
It doesn’t really matter what’s going on while you sit at the bottom of the sea. If its fear, despair, grief, brokenness, loss, anger, pain or hurt, those weights have to go for you to rise above the circumstances and live.
Many people, intercessors, pastors and churches are hearing your life in this writing.
The odds for winning the battle for “life and that more abundantly,” seems to be set against you. But you see, that’s a lie from the enemy. That is not God’s truth, for it really doesn’t matter if others around you are drowning – you can live.
Psalms 107:28-30
“Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses. He makes the storm to be calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet, so he brings them unto their desired haven.”
People, rise up and fight the good fight of faith
Church, your ship is not at the bottom of the sea yet, is it?
Yes there are shipwrecks, but does that have to be you?
Churches have struggled.
People have struggled.
Those who have dedicated themselves to prayer for their churches and revival have struggled.
Intercessors, ministry leaders, church, you may have felt that discouragement has “swamped your ship.” It may seem that all of the prayers you have prayed are hitting a brassy heaven and falling on deaf ears, because right now, you see nothing that offers you hope. In fact, for some, the world around you appears to be “sinking” into some deep whirlpool that is simply sucking you and your church under. Instead of getting better for all of your praying, it seems to have just gotten worse.
Sometimes you hear someone say, “I can hardly believe my eyes,” as they look with their physical eyes at something in disbelief. Well, don’t believe your physical eyes for they see through a glass darkly.
Look with the eyes of the Spirit and see what God sees.
There are more with you than are against you.
The day may seem dark, but in God’s Kingdom, it’s always light.
Move inside of His light, where the True Word of God always illuminates the path.
There is, for some, but a bit of the breath of life in them, but even a little breath is better than no breath. The cry, “Breathe! Breathe! Breathe!” has been desperately yelled by the rescuers while leaning over the body of the drowned. They know that if they can get that person to breathe, they can live.
Great joy fills the rescuers, as sudden, revolting movement fills the once lifeless body. The head, limbs and chest all join the struggle for life. The drowned one begins to sputter and cough up the water, making room for the breath! A sigh of relief can be heard as they realize that this one just left the “land of the dead” and rejoined the living.
God is more than willing to lean over your crumpled body and breathe life back into it. It may be you. It may be your church and God is willing – are you?
In your despair, cry out, kick, and raise your hands above your heads and cry out, “HELP!”
How desperate are you to live, I mean, really live? How desperate are you for your church to rise up and live?
Psalms 93:3-4
“The floods have lifted up Oh Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, and the floods have lifted up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yes, than the mighty waves of the sea.”
Pastors, God wants to breathe life into you and your ministry and that of your church. People, God wants to breathe life into you, all of you – resurrection life – that which raises the dead.
Some of you are feeling a shout rising up even now from some place deep inside of you – a place that is still alive and breathing with hope.
Some of you are rising up out of your slump, realizing that you’ve been duped by the devil and his lies.
Some of you are feeling an injection of strength, even though your despair has been out of legitimate loss, but you are ready to move on with living the life that God has called you to live.
And some of you are hearing,
“It is not going to work for me like it does for others…”
Lies! All Lies!
Don’t listen!
Why don’t you try it? Raise your head heavenward and get a glimpse of the One who is sitting upon The Throne. All He needs is a twitch of your pinky finger crying out for help for Him to move on your behalf – so “move it!” Then move your hand…now your arms…now raise your voice and cry out. God is neither deaf nor blind that he cannot see and hear. He is not without feelings that He cannot feel.
Rise up Child of God!
Rise up Man of God!
Rise up Church of God!
Struggle like you’ve never struggled before to get on your feet again.
You will feel His sustaining strength grip you.
You may need to jettison some things as an individual or a church so that you can travel light. It’s all those “weights” that sink a person or a church.
Be willing to let some things go.
Hebrews 12:1
“Wherefore, seeing that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
Throw overboard the “illegal cargo” of unforgiveness, bitterness, control and anger, just to name a few. Also throw overboard other “storage containers” filled with self-pity and self-focus. There are also some “stow-a-ways” that have come on board. Look for them – despair and hopelessness. They have no citizenship or rite-of-passage on board a Christian’s or churches life.
I feel a message rising up in the spirit of some pastors.
You may have even been preaching sermons loaded with your own despair at the condition of the church and your ministry. But now your head is clearing up – you can see some things that you haven’t seen before.
Maybe you are reading this and saying,
“This is not me or my church that she is writing about.”
You are on top of the mountain with the flood below you.
But looking back, you can remember times such as this in your own life or ministry when it wasn’t so great. If this is you – will you take a moment now to remember your own story and pray for those who are living theirs right now?
To conclude my thoughts –
May I encourage those who are down to “reach up,” and those who are up to “reach down?”
May I encourage those who are hurting and yes, even angry?
There is a “Ship of Mercy” coming your way!
A “Lifeline of Grace” is being thrown to you!
All you have to do is to move your arms in “Forgiveness” to grasp it and be pulled to safety!
Come on folks! – There is nothing worth hanging onto but the Cross of Jesus Christ.
It is going to take a believing and praying Church to withstand the attacks of the enemy that he is currently and is going to be launching at the Church and its people. We need each other and most of all we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!
Hebrews 12:2
“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
God bless you today with new life, strength, and courage to rise up and live above it all!
