Do you ever get into a slump, whether it is personally or professionally, where you feel discouraged and it seems as if you cannot muster up a victory? Maybe it’s the feeling of losing your drive and motivation, passion has been overtaken by anxiety, or the loss column is filling up faster than the win column. We can become easily discouraged by rejection, our own fears of failure, or other outside factors.
Running a business is hard.
Marriage is hard.
The chaos, pain, and hurt in this world is hard.
Whatever the source of it is, we have all been there, we have felt it.
There are times when our internal discouragement starts to display itself externally. Lack of sleep or energy leads to more irritability, a shorter fuse with your spouse, your kids, and your employees or co-workers. There are times when feeling discouraged spirals into self-doubt. The confidence and passion have left the building. There we find it to be written all over our face and displaying itself in our posture. Unless you are a master of deceit, those who know you well will be able to tell. As a leader, how are you going to be the motivating force behind your team when you yourself are struggling to find the positive angle or lack confidence?
When I start to feel this way, looking around and feeling disheartened with the way the world is going or how things in my life are maybe not going the way that I want them to, I make sure to take a step back, shift my perspective and go to where I find my source of encouragement on those days where I can’t seem to find any.
Do you have scripture that you constantly go back to when you need encouragement or a reminder of God’s goodness? Mine is found in the book of Habakkuk, where Habakkuk, a prophet, is having a back and forth with God, complaining about injustices and his frustration with God about not acting. Habakkuk cries out to God multiple times, and He answers him. It ends with a prayer from Habakkuk and the verses below that paint a beautiful picture of trusting when things look bleak, and you feel discouraged with how things are going.
“Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
– Habakkuk 3:16-19
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.”
I go back to this verse constantly because it reminds me that there will be times of scarcity and there will be times of failure, but our joy is found in the Lord and He gives us strength when we are weak.
Running a business is hard, but The Lord provides.
Marriage is hard, but the Lord is faithful.
The chaos, hurt, and pain in this world is hard, but the Lord is sovereign.
Let’s shift our focus to the end of those statements, rather than the beginning. We know that our greatest encouragement in life, no matter what obstacle we face, is that the Lord has already overcome
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