Drink From the Deep » Frustrations, Tough Times » Feeling Hopeless & Helpless in a Dark Time? No way out?
Feeling Hopeless & Helpless in a Dark Time? No way out?
Hopeless and Helpless
Every person who has walked the face of this earth has most likely experienced a time in their life that felt dark.
The degree to which that darkness surrounds and invades our lives can vary greatly. Many of you are in a season, a prison, a dark room in which you WISH there was light coming in from a window at least like the vision in this picture. But many of you are in complete darkness – feeling hopeless and helpless – wondering if this darkness will ever end. Will I ever get out of this dark place? I can’t see an end. I can’t see a way out. I can’t find the “exit” – or at least a healthy “exit”. I don’t see how this situation, relationship, emotion, problem or struggle will ever end . . . and I surely can’t see the “light at the end of the tunnel”, the “silver lining” or even a vision of the “good things to come” out of all this.
You are not alone!
What does it mean to be Hopeless and Helpless?
Hopeless:
Helpless:
Does this sound like you? Someone you know?
Is the word “Impossible” the word of the day – every day – in your life right now?
Good! 🙂 (You’ll see . . . )
I can’t see!
Recently I have experienced such a dark time. It’s incapacitating. You can feel the life being sucked out of you. Fear can grip you. Anxiety, doubt and depression become your companions. No matter what people say around you – nothing seems to help. Nothing gives you “eyes to see” the way out of this.
Maybe that’s because you are not supposed to “see” your way out of this!
{What?!} Let me explain.
In the midst of the latest dark time I’ve been in, God was continually asking me to trust Him – completely – 100% (not just in a portion of it this time – but EVERYTHING).
I always thought I was very trusting of God. I am a woman of faith. I am an optimist and can usually see the silver linings in most things. However, this was a different situation, with different circumstances and realities that I had never encountered before.
I was in a dark room.
I didn’t know how big it was.
I didn’t know where the exits were.
I didn’t know how to get to the exits, or how long it would take, or if I would even find them at all.
What if there were no exits? What if there was nothing on the other side of the exit door but more darkness?
I needed a new way of seeing! I needed some hope! I needed some help!
A hand in the dark
Standing in this dark room, surrounded by fear, doubt, lies, hurts, resentment, anger, frustration and more – I felt alone, vulnerable and afraid. I couldn’t see. I like to see. I LIKE to BE IN CONTROL! 🙂
BUT – there IS someone in this dark room with me. Many times I can’t see or feel him – but He’s there. He says “I’m here. I’m always here. I will never leave you.” He encourages me – “I can see a way out. I see the next step. I see the exit. And I know what is on the other side of that door.”
Really? How?
This man not only has a different perspective – but he has the ability to see in the dark! He has on night-vision goggles!
He is reaching out his hand to me – asking me “Do you trust me?”
What other (good) choice do I have? I could wander in the dark – bumping into things, getting hurt more, being more and more consumed by the hopeless darkness around me.
– OR –
I could hold out my hand into the darkness in front of me – and wait and choose to trust that this man will not only grab my hand – but will lead me to safety . . . will lead me out of this dark room and into a place filled with light and life.
I choose to reach out and grab hold . . . I choose to trust!
It’s not easy.
It’s very difficult.
Your emotions, thoughts, fears, anxiety, and all the lies the enemy is filling your head with will cause you to want to stay in your reality – this dark place. It’s not what you want – but it’s what IS. How can you possibly choose to believe in something that seems like a fairytale – something you can’t see – and something that just doesn’t “feel” real or true right now.
It’s a choice!
You can – because you have been given the ability to choose! It’s a choice.
What are you going to chose?
To be by yourself in this dark place – or to be in it with your hand firmly grasping onto the only hand that can truly help you out of such a dark pit/place?
“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Jesus reminding us of this!
If you are in an impossible situation – then Praise God!
You are in a place God can work in!
His specialty is – impossibilities!
What will your choice be today?
Will you choose to trust – to believe – that God can do what He says He can do?
Will you choose to believe that God has plans for you – “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE”? (Jeremiah 29:11)
Will you choose to hold your hand out and say “I can’t do it God. I need you. I CHOOSE to trust you – 100% – even when the enemy, my feelings, circumstances, situation, and even people around me are speaking hopelessness right now. I CHOOSE to trust you – 100%!”
Can you do that?
I challenge you to try!
See what happens! 🙂
You are loved immensely and God has never and will never leave you or forsake you!
Deuteronomy 31:8 – The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Psalm 40:1-3 –
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him.
Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.