It’s January. Do you feel it? I love the start of a new year–the freshness, the excitement. But that quickly dissipates and leaves us with the rest of January. I saw a meme the other day that read, “Currently doing a challenge called January. It’s where you just try to make it through every day in January.” And boy, do I feel that! Life just hits differently in January, and it rolls on into February.
Combating the Winter Blues
How do we combat these winter blues? How do we stay encouraged when the world seems to be falling apart around us, and there is so much contention and strife and problems? We can find the answer in a passage of Scripture found in II Corinthians. But before we get to the answer, read these verses.
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
II Corinthians 4:8-10 NLT
Not Broken
Does that sound a little like how your life is currently going? It does for so many of us. We feel pressed on every side. The Message translation puts it this way:
We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken.
II Corinthians 4:8-10 MSG
Sometimes, life and the struggles we’re facing feel like too much; but Paul reminds us that though we have troubles all around us, we’re not pushed too far that we’re crushed. We’re never abandoned by God. He hasn’t forgotten us. God promises that he won’t give us more than we can handle.
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
I Corinthians 10:13 NLT
Making It Through January
So, how do we make it through this January? What do we do to keep ourselves from feeling overwhelmed, pressed down, and troubled on every side? The answer comes a few verses later in the chapter. Paul tells us what to do so that we don’t give up.
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
II Corinthians 4:16-18
Daily Choice
Did you see it in there? The answer? We have to renew our spirit every day. Every single day, we have to choose to spend time with God and renew our Spirit. That’s how we’ll find the strength we need to face today. Then tomorrow, we have to get up and do it once again. Every single day that we start our day with God, He renews our strength and helps us to continue on so that we don’t give up.
I love how The Message puts it.
So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
II Corinthians 4:16-18
The things we see right now aren’t the full picture, and they won’t last. So don’t give up in the mean time. Keep getting up and spending time with God, keep staying faithful, and watch as this season fades away and a better one takes its place.
More Encouragement
If this new year is a struggle, and you don’t quite know up from down and everything seems all tangled up, I suggest reading Untangle Your Emotions by Jennie Allen. I finished that one recently, and it’s a really good help for navigating life and all its emotions, both good and bad.
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