Have you ever felt like you were being bombarded with one thing after another? The phrase “the hits just keep on coming” comes to mind. This is usually followed by an urge to complain to God and burst into tears or curl up in a ball away from the world. However, I have discovered an interesting notion about this kind of emotional roller coaster, and it’s just a little thing.
First, it usually takes several hits before I start the plummet into despair. I can bounce back from one or two bad things, talk myself out of it. Despair only happens after a repeated bombardment of enemy fire. I say enemy fire because that is exactly what it is. Satan will throw everything he has at us, especially if we are trying to do God’s will. God sometimes allows this just to prove that we can trust Him because if things were always good, there would be no testing of our faith. So, if it takes quite a few hits to knock you down, then you know that your faith is not weak, and it also means that it requires more hits to strengthen your faith. Like a bodybuilder, you have to increase the weight and/or the duration in order to increase strength in the muscles.
Second, it only takes something small to bring me out of it. A text from someone I haven’t heard from in a while, an email with a word of encouragement about potential opportunities, or a moment in nature can stop the downward spiral. It only takes a spark of hope to light up the world. It is that powerful.
So, know that tribulations test our faith, and know that it only takes a spark of hope to burn out despair. Therefore, remember what God has done in the past and know he will continue to do it. But, also know that you can be the spark of hope in someone else’s bad day. Look around you and see where you can uplift someone today, even if it is just a text, a smile, a word of encouragement, or just holding a door. You never know how much of an impact you can have with just a little gesture of kindness. Be the spark, not the arrow.