You're Not Alone: Encouragement in Challenging TimesSample

Hey there, you young person, you! How’s it going?  

Stop for a moment and let the question slip past your carefully positioned armor. Don’t be quick with the question and just push it aside or think you can roll your eyes and roll it away. Don’t start adulting and think about your job or your busyness or the weather.

How’s your soul?  That mysterious and vast part of yourself that can be so easy to ignore, especially in a time when so much has changed.

How’s that you? 

Let’s be real. It’s been a wild time, and it isn’t over yet. 

For some, it feels like a lost season. All the things you had planned! The momentum you’d gained. The places you were gonna go: Poof!  So much changed. 

Whether it was the last bit of school before your next big thing. Or the big tournament you were aiming to be at to showcase your skill. Or the lead role in the play that you’ve been dreaming about since you were in kindergarten. The trip of a lifetime. Or a hundred other things.

Where did they go? 

And all the things that’ve happened since.

Maybe you wished you’d written it down because a lot of life has happened in the past year. Remember when it seemed like the world ran out of toilet paper? Or that hand sanitizer would be more valuable than bitcoin or NFT?

If you’re the writing-it-down type, the pages of your journal may read like this: What’s happening? What the heck is even happening? What is HAPPENING right now? 

And the anger and the despair. It may not even be yours. But all the anger that’s thrown around might be taking a toll. On you and the people you know and love. Friendships bust open because of careless words or distance. Drug overdoses and dark thoughts that you hear about in the news, on social, from a friend. 

And the constant, painful stories of injustice that continue to materialize in your community and at the top of your feeds. You may not have had many illusions about what the world was like, but none of it is the way that you want it to be. And it can be so frustrating that you don’t have a way to talk about some of these issues or broach the subjects that you feel so passionate about with the people around you.

Isolation. Physically distant but always on social media. Nowhere to go and nothing to do, but so much to distract you and fill your time. How can you even fill your soul when you forget it’s there?

And don’t even mention dating. Finding a soul mate? This was going to be the year when you finally met the right person to be the future Mr. or Mrs. And for most of the year, you couldn’t even see anybody’s face! Or do dinner and a movie.

For some, this might be all about you living your best life. Zoom life has made online learning or working from home easier, less stressful relationally. You’ve saved money because you didn’t have to live on campus with a food plan, or drive to work. And you get to be closer to parents and friends and siblings you actually enjoy. 

Or you started a side-gig and you’re making money you never otherwise would have, so instead of racking up debt, you’re saving funds for the future. You’re not unscathed, but you’re better than you would’ve imagined.

Does any of this sound like you? Wherever you're at and no matter how you feel, please hear this: You are loved by God. He sees you and He knows you. Better than you know yourself.

Close your eyes right now, wherever you are. Take a deep breath. Let it fill your lungs.

The Spirit of God is with you. And He is your helper. In fact, He’s an ever-present help in your current trials and challenges and your joys too. God is present to comfort you and to counsel you. 

Take another deep breath to just focus on that truth. 

Young woman. Young man. Hear this today: God is your strength, no matter what you face.

 God loves you. And today, before you do anything else, you need to stop and remember that!