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Are you in a hold position? You know, you feel stuck; you can’t move forward or backward and you can’t change it? It can just feel like forever, when you’re holding on, but often this feeling of hopelessness doesn’t show itself outwardly so much as it corrupts you on the inside.
It takes the form of what Thoreau called “quiet desperation.” You keep going, you keep saying the right things and maintaining a semblance of normalcy, but on the inside you’ve truly given up. You’re going through the motions of a marriage or a job; you’re making people think everything’s okay with your children or parents, but in reality you’re emotionally detached; there’s no more fight left in you, and you’re almost at the place where you really don’t care.
I want to share three simple truths that will help you hold on when you’re on hold. And the first one is: Trust in God’s Sovereignty. That simply means that you continue to believe that nothing happens in God’s universe that is outside of God’s influence and authority. And you believe the same is true in your life. God is sovereign in your life. Therefore, you can trust that in his sovereignty, he will make all things work together for your good, even the evil and wrongs of others and the cruelty of this sin-infested world.
Believe me, I know it’s not easy to trust when you’re on hold, especially when it looks like your world is crumbling around you. I think of a friend who went through years of pain and suffering from an unfaithful husband and a broken marriage, death of two children, another child who walked away from God, and other significant losses. Honestly, she was a Job-story for today, and I often wondered how she made it through. Obviously, all those things left deep scars and hurt, but she turned it into opportunity for her to minister to others. She completed a biblical counseling degree and now she has a voice to help others who are “on hold” because she has walked deep, dark roads. In God’s sovereignty and as only God can do, he turned her sorrow into dancing and has given her a broader, more effective ministry as a result.
If you can put your trust in God’s sovereignty today, regardless of your feelings, and simply repeat that you believe he is still in control, that is step one in holding on while you’re on hold.