Jeremy Camp - The Story's Not Over Devotional Series Sample

 1. Still Alive

As a day unfolds, we can experience a wide variety of different emotions. We may notice it the most during hard circumstances. Perhaps we feel anger, disappointment, hurt, or perhaps in a moment of faith we may even see the good that can come from our trials and learn to value the lesson above the pain. We may go through a season of feeling far from the Lord. When we’re in the desert seasons, feeling alone and tired. But even when things are hard, we can still have hope like an anchor for our soul. But no matter what the ups and downs look like, or the scars and bruises we carry, I hope we’re always reminded that God is still alive in our hearts. Even though we may go through crazy hard trials- you may feel weak and like you have nothing left to give, but He’s still alive.
 

We have to learn to face what we can’t control and give everything over to Jesus. When we’re in His presence - He breathes His life back into us even in the driest of places. 

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (NLT)

Sometimes we go through hardships, but as I look over my life it has been the very hardships that have shaped me into who I am today. There were some areas that needed to be stripped away in my heart and taught me the very characteristics I needed. The hardest trials have caused me to look at my life in ways I never would. The loss of my first wife was one of the hardest trials I’ve walked through but God restored my heart and has given me a wife (of 16 years and counting) and a beautiful family. Walking through disappointments and hurt with people close to us caused us to be fully dependent on God. Even when people let us down, we found ourselves valuing God’s faithfulness and consistency all the more. Sometimes the enemy thinks he will use trials to take us out, but if we don’t let our circumstances define us and we look to God for what we need, we will come out even stronger than before.

“It does not matter how great the pressure is, it only matters where the pressure lies; Whether it comes between you and God, or whether is presses you closer to His heart.” (Hudson Taylor)