It's Okay Not To Be Okay By Sheila WalshНамуна

Day Seven: Fight for Your Life

“If there’s anyone in the crowd who has ever struggled with thoughts of suicide like me, would you join me at the front?” 

I was wrapping up my message at a women’s conference and I had not planned this ending. But just before I gave the invitation, I felt God urging me in this direction. 

After a breathless pause, women began leaving their seats, gathering into the aisles, and kneeling together at the front. The reasons for their pain were all different but their fight was the same. And not one of them was alone. I looked out at the congregation of women still in their seats and I saw battle-weary women with broken hearts. 

Suddenly, I felt fiercely protective of these women. I felt God’s healing reaching those on the stage and His hope spreading to those in the seats. I asked the entire congregation to pray with me. And I prayed Psalm 27:13-14, ESV, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

Measuring our lives and our service to Christ by whether we’re okay or not is soul-crushing. It always leads to despair. But here’s the shift: Christ does not ask for perfection. Instead, He asks for your love and your trust. You don’t have to be okay because you are entirely, absolutely, irrevocably loved by Him. 

I want to challenge you today to fight for your wild, beautiful life—not in the do-it-yourself way, not by your own strength. Fight for your life by giving the fight to Christ. Put down the burden of having to get it all right. Instead, lift your head and see how God is working in your life. 

God is with you, He is good, and He is fighting for you. 

Reflection Question

How is God leading you to give the fight over to Him today?

Prayer

Father, I come to you broken. Please take these pieces, take my mess and make it beautiful. Help me to trust your redemptive work in my life.