Discouragement Antidotes

The endless night dragged on. I turned for the umpteenth time and wished for morning. My comfortable bed felt like a prison. What brought on this sleeplessness? I wish I could blame it on pain from the fibromyalgia I live with; that's easier to deal with. But this came from getting my eyes off Jesus and believing the enemy's lies about certain circumstances in the past. I was discouraged.

Some of the synonyms for discouragement are dejection, lack of spirit, gloom, despondency, loss of confidence, fearfulness, melancholy. Just reading the description of discouragement is discouraging! Can't you just see drooping shoulders, worry lines etched across a face, feet dragging?

We all deal with discouragement every now and then; some more than others. Since I wasn't sleeping, I began praying (why did it take me so long?) and asking God for an antidote to discouragement.

The first thing that came to mind was Romans 8:1: "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Thoughts that condemn us are not from God. God convicts us of sin, but He doesn't condemn us. Condemn means to berate, accuse, denounce, scold, attack. Does that sound like our loving God? No way! Who is the accuser? Satan. As I recognized where my thoughts were coming from, some of the discouragement lifted.

Second, the Lord put someone on my mind to pray for. This person recently lost her husband and is going through an illness. Then he brought another person to mind, a precious teen who is battling a frightening illness. As I began praying, I got my focus off myself and a little more of the discouragement dissipated.

Third, I focused on God's love for me. Romans 8:35-39 says that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus - not trouble, hardship, death, any powers, demons. That includes thoughts planted by our enemy. Discouragement was losing its grip.

Fourth, God's faithfulness is the story of my Chrsitian life. He has never let me down! I thought about times past when He comforted me and lifted me out of other pits of discouragement. The discouragement vanished. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

If sleeplessness hits again, I plan to crawl out of my warm bed and run to my Bible. When discouragement bowls us over, we need God's truth to pull us out of it.

Hebrews 12: 2 says,

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And Romans 12:2 says,

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Sometimes I have to remind myself to do what my blog address says: live "above the circumstances"!