by Karen Blanchard
SHELBY TOWNSHIP, MI – Have you ever been through a season of life where you just felt weak? Maybe unsure how you even got to that place? I found myself there not too long ago. I kept asking the Lord, “How did I get here?” When we find ourselves in a tough season of life, the circumstances we find ourselves in can quickly begin to consume us.
One thing I have learned about myself is I get overwhelmed as I begin to look ahead at all the things I have to do, especially when I am in a busy season, and I have little margin. I can easily begin to feel the weight of it all. As a result, I pick up and carry the burden or I begin the process in my mind of how to “figure everything out.” As you can imagine, this can be very draining and exhausting. This is not what God wants us to do!
During this season, I didn’t see an end to the overwhelming situation I was in. My family rallied around me during this time, in which I am so thankful. I remember one evening I was talking to my dad on the phone and he said, “Karen, God is strengthening you during this time.” I remember thinking, “How is God strengthening me, when I feel so weak?” However, over the next few days and weeks the Holy Spirit kept bringing that phrase back to my mind, and He started illuminating verses on God’s strength. The Lord is so good in how he speaks to us!
One of the verses God gave me that I clung to was in 2 Timothy 4:17a where Paul writes,
“But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength…”
I knew God was with me, but he reminded me that he was right by my side ready to give me what I needed. God spoke to my heart that I needed to rely on Him to give me strength for the day I was facing - strength for just that day. Not strength for the week ahead. Not strength six months down the road. Only strength for what I would need for that day for what I would face and need to accomplish.
He began to change my perspective and reminded me that I don’t need to worry about how to “figure everything out” but that I just need to trust Him for the strength I need to face each day and trust that he will carry me through the days to come.
In Matthew 6, I was reminded that if God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies, then He cares even more for me and what I am going through. I can trust that he is working it all out.
My One Word for this year is focus. I have had to constantly remind myself to get my eyes off my current circumstance and fix them on Jesus. Sometimes I needed to remind myself to do this multiple times a day. I am also learning not to focus too much on the future, which is when my anxiety tends to rush in. God doesn’t expect or want us to plan our lives out way in advance. I am learning this. He wants us to rely on Him and Him alone for the strength we need for today. When we feel overwhelmed and defeated, he wants us to run to him.
This is a great passage of scripture to memorize, journal, and speak over your life when you are feeling weak.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. – Isaiah 40:28-31
I am so thankful that when we are weak, God is strong! Keep running to Him! It is in Christ we find the strength we need for each day! Don’t worry about tomorrow; trust God for today!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen is married to Scott Blanchard, pastor of Lakepointe Church, and moved from Florida to Michigan in the summer of 2009 to plant Lakepointe Church in Shelby Township. She enjoys mentoring and discipling women and also leads women’s life groups through her church. She is passionate about helping women find their purpose in who God created them to be. She is on staff at Lakepointe Church and loves being part of what God is doing in the Metro Detroit area!