When I take a look out beyond the endless sea, a feeling of hope rises within me. A sudden rush of passionate, driven, dreams start to finally brush the surface as if they are finally beginning to stir within me.
In this moment, as I try to fathom the beauty in something as relentless as the sea, I feel as the stars and the moon are no longer unreachable.
Something about soaking up the salty air and feeling the sand between your toes gives you a sense of rush that none other can.
It is something about the rush of wind and the splash of waves that can make you feel so small, yet so big. As in, you can face the world head on. You begin to believe you can make a difference. It becomes you against the world.
But as much inspiration the sea can give, it can also drown you in a matter of seconds.
As the sea draws you in little by little, you suddenly begin to catch yourself at a gaze. Finding such comfort and relaxation in each crash of wave against your body, as if the sea is telling you to turn back now before it is too late. But you ache and crave such calamity that the sea holds that you ignore any of its warnings. As the sea is at war, throwing your fragile body against wave after wave, it reminds you of the constant war within yourself and suddenly you are tired of fighting. Tired of fighting the war with the sea and the war within yourself, you know a fight you are not going to win.
So you stop fighting. You stop swimming. You stop fighting for your life.
They say you are alive till your very last heartbeat. As long as you have a pulse, you are still considered alive. Doctors do everything in their power and ability to save your life until the very moment your heart stops beating and they call time of death.
But I believe that people can still have a pulse and still not be alive. A lot of us die a long time before we really take our final breath.
We simply become a living body, no more than that. Who we are as a person essentially no longer exists. We lose hope. Give up. Are simply tired of living such an empty life.
It becomes more of a reality of 'just getting by'. You become nothing more than a substance of a living cell, as though it feels like that.
I am afraid many of us feel like this, more than we like to admit.
So often we get beaten down and pushed to the ground that many times we do not get back up. We decide for ourselves that the fight is not worth fighting and it is easier to lie on the ground helplessly and lifelessly.
But did it ever occur to you that perhaps the Lord had to tear you down and break you down to make you realize that maybe you are not where you were called to be?
Let me be straight up honest with you here, life is not easy. But it was never meant to be. If life were easy, we would never need anyone to lean on or confined in. The greatest thing about having a relationship with the Lord is that you are never alone. You are always surrounded with many people that share the same love for the Lord that you have. And what is even better is that same love they have for the Lord is, the same love they have for his people.
Yes, that means you.
The broken, beaten down, misused, sinner. You have a community waiting for you with open arms ready to help lift up your burdens to the Lord.
Stop laying in bed all alone being beaten by your own thoughts.
Stop thinking nobody cares.
Stop pushing people away.
Stop calling yourself unworthy.
Because let me tell you, you are the beautiful child of God and he has created you beyond perfection. He has created you for a purpose that only you can fulfill. So please, when you begin to feel like giving up and stop fighting remember that the Lord has taken the time to call you to a specific role in this life and that role will never be met if you decide to give up. And when the road gets tough and you begin to question God on many things, remember that he is still good. He has not forgotten about you, sometimes he just takes a step back that way you realize just how much you need him.
We are always going to come across stumbling blocks in our lives, but it is how we deal with them that controls how our life carries on.
Even when the world seems to be crumbling around you, if you still find joy in the situation and hold on to the promises of the Lord then any bad situation will still be a blessing in some way or another.
Remember that no matter how hard this life gets, it is always worth fighting for. As we endure hardships it is easy to be thankful for them because we will never have to face the hardest trail and hardship of them all: death. (A spiritual one.)
For Jesus endure the cross for helpless sinners like you and I, that way we would have eternal life with him. What a beautiful thing.
That alone is worth living for. We are given a free life and hope so that we may go out into the world and share it with others. This is my challenge and prayer for you all.
Take the time to see the ones that are hurting around you. Because so many people are desperate for the hope and the love of Jesus, yet they don't have any access to him. I hope that we take the time to acknowledge others more and be more like Jesus.
For we need to be unifying together, not dividing.
The Lord does not give his heart in pieces. He gives his love fully to those who choose to follow him simply because he loves us, therefore we should be willing to give our hearts fully to others.
His love is not broken. His love is not selfish. His love is not insecure. His word hangs on to every word and his love keeps promises.
So you should make a promise to keep fighting the good fight.
I promise it is worth it.
You are designed to change the world.
