How to Encourage Yourself Through Seasons of Struggle

Learning how to encourage yourself through seasons of struggle is a crucial skill; especially, for those of us living with chronic pain/illness. Chronic illness life is a never-ending challenge that tends to bring spiritual battles with it. You’re likely to enter at least one season of serious struggle.

The best way to fight the inevitable is to know how to encourage yourself through those seasons of struggle. The following suggestions are good for every Christian to practice in their everyday life. But, I have found incorporating each of the following suggestions into my regular routine to be critical as to how I handle my hardest days.

Encourage Yourself Through Seasons of Struggle: Read God’s Word

Read your Bible. Do it daily. You don’t have to read it for a set amount of time or a set amount of pages or chapters; but, I highly recommend reading your Bible every single day. God’s word is living. His words are living and they breathe life into us! The Bible teaches us in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Life with chronic illness brings innumerable daily challenges and we are navigating them the best we can; but, it’s an exhausting feat. Sometimes, oftentimes, we do everything right and still get it all wrong and end up feeling completely defeated. We need the encouragement reading God’s word brings.

There’s so many ways to get into God’s Word. If this is not a habit you’ve already established, don’t worry, I have some suggestions for you to try. Over the course of the last couple of years, I have come to really enjoy daily scripture writing. A friend I met on Instagram introduced me to the concept. I started out with one of her plans and have continued with the practice ever since.

Reading the book of Psalms is an encouraging place to start or reading a chapter of Proverbs a day is another. You can also listen to audio Bible if the physical act of reading is particularly difficult for you or if your disability impacts your vision.

Encourage Yourself By Listening to Encouraging Words

There’s so many ways to listen to encouraging words! I’m a big believer in filtering what we allow ourselves to take in. We must use caution in what we allow ourselves to watch, read and listen to for a number of reasons. However, if all we consume is full of negativity, it will impact how we are feeling in a negative way as well. I realize being aware of world events is important. I personally limit the amount of news I expose myself to daily. The events of the world tend to be very discouraging and depressing, to be frank.

Listening to encouraging, Godly music can uplift your spirit. Audio Bible is also a good option, as mentioned in the previous section. In recent months, I have developed a love of podcasts and have found a couple in particular that I enjoy immensely.

Another way to listen to encouraging words is to listen to sermons. Find your favorite preachers on Youtube, Facebook and Sermon Audio and listen to the sermons they upload. It’s a great way to feed your spirit the spiritual food it needs to thrive.

Attend Church In-Person

Attending church in-person has so many benefits. Not to mention, the Lord commanded us to do so in Hebrews 10:25. If you’re a Christian; then, attending in-person church services is likely already a habit you’ve established. Online services are a far cry compared to experiencing the feeling of the Holy Spirit moving among His people. Being spiritually fed among other like-minded individuals is more than just an enriching experience. I can’t find the words to do it justice.

I know in-person attendance is difficult, sometimes even impossible, for some depending on what type/level of chronic pain/illness you’re living with. In those cases, online services or listening to recorded services are the only option; however, if in-person attendance is possible at all, then I highly recommend going as often as your body will allow. It will do your heart so much good!

Speaking for myself, I suffered in my spiritual life significantly during our country’s initial shutdown when churches all over our nation were closed for an extended period of time. I was so thankful when our church decided to have drive-in services. I have learned to make exchanges in other areas of my life to plan ahead to give my body the best opportunity to be a part of church services each time the door is open. Spiritual nourishment is critical to my emotional wellbeing which in turn is crucial to my physical health. In my opinion and based on the information I’ve read over the years, all of it is connected.

There are times that I miss church because my pain levels are too high and I’m unable to sit on the pew. I can do everything right and sometimes my body still isn’t cooperative and I realize I’m not able to go. Sometimes, I’m in between not being able to go and being able to go and I’ve gone anyway. Sometimes, that works out and sometimes it doesn’t and I end up out in the car. If you’re not comfortable at the church where you’re attending, then I promise there’s a church out there that would be happy to have you!

Encouraging Yourself Through Seasons of Struggle: Find a Way to Serve

During the years I was existing in “survival mode”, I had to step back from working in the various areas I’m typically involved in at church. But, a time came, that I hesitated to jump back “into the game” so to speak because living with chronic pain/illness means my body isn’t always reliable. I allowed that to hold me back because I wasn’t sure how to navigate it.

What if I can’t show up when I’m supposed to? What if I get in too much pain? A million questions ran through my mind. But, I also realized that I missed serving and when I was serving, I was less focused on me and my issues. So, I determined in my heart to take a step of faith.

Find a way to serve others for Christ. There’s so many ways to get involved in your church. Don’t hesitate to be vocal if there’s something you would like to try but need assistance doing. May I just say there’s so many ways to serve that don’t require a lot of physical strength or stamina?

There’s also ways to serve others outside of the walls of the church building, things that you can do right from home. Be creative. Keep your eyes and ears open for needs and then figure out how you can help. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive. Pray and ask the Lord to show you how you can serve Him and I promise He will show you!

Seek Out the Survival Experiences of Others

Have you ever heard someone else’s story and it helped you realize yours could be worse? Have you ever read a book that opened your eyes to a different level of suffering than what you’ve experienced? Seeking out the experiences of others: whether it’s through personal connections with someone you know or by reading a book about someone’s story can impact your perspective on your own situation.

In 2016, I underwent multiple surgeries that failed to offer any real improvement in my hip/leg pain. (You can read about it here.) I had been hopeful going into each that they would help my situation; so it was a defeating experience when they failed to deliver. One of my physical therapists, at the time, shared a book with me about human trafficking. She was passionate about raising awareness in our area. We had some great conversations during my sessions and one day she asked if I would be willing to read a book called “Renting Lacey”. I was hesitant to accept the book because it wasn’t my typical topic of choice and I wasn’t sure how I felt about reading a book about human trafficking.

To make a long story short, I accepted the book. I read it and I know the Lord meant for me to read it. It made a huge impact on me and was the beginning of a “journey of books”, essentially. The Lord showed me which books to read that summer and all of them were incredibly difficult to read. All were someone else’s story of suffering and survival. But, as I read them, I saw more and more how incredibly blessed I was even in the middle of my hardest struggle yet.

Encouraging Yourself Through Seasons of Struggle: Take the Initiative

Encouraging yourself through seasons of spiritual struggle is no one else’s responsibility. You have to be the one to take the initiative to do the things you know you need to do to improve your situation. Sadly, that’s where a lot of people fail. They’re struggling; but, they don’t grab hold of the reigns and do something about it. If you’re struggling spiritually; then, I’m saying to you today: Do something about it!

I realize change is hard and creating new habits is hard. But, wouldn’t it be worth the hard to feel more encouraged in your spirit? The choice is yours to make. It’s up to you! I can’t do it for you. Your spouse or your loved one can’t do it for you. The Lord is a gentleman. He won’t do it for you either. You have to put in the work. So, get to work! Here’s the recap:

• Read Your Bible Daily
• Listen to Encouraging Words
• Attend Church
• Find a Way to Serve
• Seek Out the Survival Experiences of Others

Which one will you start working on first?