Have you ever wanted to just give up? I mean…you’ve eaten 0-5, you have read Thin Within or done a workbook study or gone thru the Hunger Within book and yet, you seem stuck. Or it’s too hard.
Maybe you have been getting closer and closer to the Lord by surrendering the food, weight and size. It may have felt like you’ve been on a mountain top.
Yet….sometimes our darkest valleys come after we have been on the “mountaintop” experiences with the Lord, don’t they?
We are not alone in this experience of wanting to give up!
In 1 Kings 19, we read about how Elijah felt the same way right after he called fire down from heaven to consume the alter of the Lord! Right after that happened (and he had all the priests of BAAL killed….) Jezebel calls for his death.
Elijah was AFRAID (yes, this is the man that just called on God to reign fire from heaven to consume the alter…) and he ran for his life!
1 Kings 19:4
4 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”
Elijah had just experienced God feeding him by ravens, using him to feed a widow with the oil and grain that never ran out and also raising her child from the dead! (It’s all in 1 Kings 17) Now he is letting fear rule him and wants to die!
Sometimes we feel like giving up because we let fear overwhelm us.
Just like Elijah, we focus on ourselves and not on God. When he was focused on God, that’s when miraculous things happened. But when Elijah was focused on his own insecurity, inadequacies and NOT God’s strength, he wanted to give up!
Ladies, so it is with us! If we focus on what God can do in us and through us, we will see miraculous things! He can and WILL transform us from the inside out if we surrender to Him and focus on Him day by day.
Look at this!
When Elijah was wallowing under that tree, ready to give up and die, did God reprimand him? Did God tell Elijah that he just needed more willpower or that he should just ‘get his act together’? NO!
1 Kings 19:5-7
5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.
7 Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”
God gave him food to strengthen him and allowed him to rest. He send an angel to help him and care for him. He didn’t tell Elijah that he had to do it all on his own.
God is telling us that today. He wants to feed us with so much more than what we can give ourselves. We no longer need to sit under that tree feeling like we haven’t done it right or that we should just give up.
We can cry out to God, even in our despair and He will answer. But we must give up doing this in our own strength. We must turn from ourselves and focus on HIM.
So, if you find yourself in the desert, under that tree and ready to give up, HEAR ME NOW:
God is for you.
God is with you.
God is behind you helping you move forward.
God is before you leading you on.
So now, sojourner….be ENCOURAGED on this journey!
Our God is mighty and is with YOU today!
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Thank you, Deanna, I so needed to hear this! The tears are flowing because I have been feeling like giving up because I can’t seem to get through even 1 day without failure. I have been so discouraged and wondering “what’s wrong with me”, that I can’t do this. I had convinced myself that I was going to the Lord with all my food issues, but now I realize I was pushing Him aside during those times when I needed His help the most. Afterwards, I would feel too ashamed to go to Him, because of my rebellion. Thank you for the reminder that God is for me and not against me, that He will help me, and that He will never leave me—today is a new day! Again, Thank you for your inspiring words!
Deanna & Mary Ann, I too am SO thankful for this wonderful posting done by Deanna! I have been looking up everything Biblical that I can get my hands and eyes on in reference to “SURRENDERING”. I even wrote to Heidi about my recent struggles, and how I was going to read a testimony to my class — about my struggles. Just like Deanna said; we feel like we’re doing so well; in my case, so well that I started a TW Class (Thin Within Class) in January. Well, from the mountain, down to the valley I went! I found specific articles with surrender in their title, and one titled, “Strength through Weakness”. AWESOME-SAUCE! Whoah! Each week our class draws a name of the person that they will be praying for. Thin Within is so close to my heart that I pray for the name I draw, plus my daughter, our class, all TW Classes, for Heidi, and for all of those that need TW to be led to TW. I am beginning to REJOICE in my struggles, because in these struggles, God is making it possible for the power of Christ to work in me. I knew this was so, but just couldn’t wrap my head around it, but I am starting to! Praise God. I’ll list the article numbers and then the web site in which to find these helpful articles on Surrender. “Jan06-395”, “Jul06-429”, and “April-07-469”. The web site is http://www.thegoodnewsarticles.com – the articles are written by David A. DePra. Have a blessed weekend all!
Great blog, Deanna. Thank you for sharing. I love how God uses the Word to meet us right where we are!
Thanks Deanna, I have been so close to giving up!! 🙁 Thanks for this post!!
It really is about what God does. He does it! HE gives the victory! Our part is believing Him and renewing our mind with His truth. He brings the lasting change. In our weakness He is strong. When we try to overcome in our own strength we will be afraid and run and hide. This post has reminded me that God is the one who will change me. I don’t need to be afraid when he’s the one guiding me. Thank you for this reminder!