Ever have one of those seasons of life where you are downtrodden and feel like you’ve found a one-way ride to desperation city? Who hasn’t? It feels like everything sucks and all hope is lost. So much time and emotional energy is spent focusing on the darkness of life, you can’t see a day when light will again shine it’s redeeming warmth on your life.
If this is reading like I have experience it first-hand, it’s because I have. All too well. I have had many seasons like it. But one stands out above all others. Begging God for answers to change my circumstance or renew my outlook, I began hearing Toby Mac’s Get Back Up pretty much everywhere I went during that time.
Get Back Up became an anthem
The lyrics are not only uplifting, they are both encouraging and empowering:
You turned away when I looked you in the eye,
And hesitated when I asked if you were alright,
Seems like you’re fighting for you life,
But why? oh why?
Good friends counsel one another when opportunity presents. Sometimes it just means listening. Other times it means making sure a hurting friend knows you care. These first few lines are the epitome of those attributes.
But they can also represent a look in the mirror. I know they did for me. During cold seasons, like me, you may even stop looking yourself in the mirror because you are ashamed and the pain is too much to see. If you do, you might question just if you are alright.
But why would you not be?
God’s love is everlasting and eternal. He will see you through!
Wide awake in the middle of your nightmare,
You saw it comin’ but it hit you outta no where,
And there’s always scars
When you fall back far
Sometimes the reality of life is crippling. You can’t believe bad things are happening. Even when the writing is on the wall, you still can’t believe it actually happened. Be it a job loss. Broken relationships. Tragedy. They all leave marks on who you are.
But remember…
We have a living Hope that is Christ Jesus.
One day you will shine again,
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever,
Photo Credit: ridoba (richard bates) via Compfight cc
Don’t run from God’s redeeming and empowering love! Take the pain to him. Allow him to heal you and shape you through your adversity. The scars will be there for you to remember those lessons and perhaps use them to encourage and lift up others through your example or ability to genuinely empathize during their dark seasons of life.
We are human. we do and will fall.
Make sure they see you get back up again.
What about you? Do you have a personal anthem that sees you through dark seasons? Share it here on this post. I’d love to hear about it!