I was encouraging a group of single sisters in the Word a few months ago, and I strongly encouraged them to resist the temptation to get weary in their minds from the wait. I’m pretty adamant about encouraging my beloved Sisters in Christ. It’s because I know from experience that once we allow our minds to become weary, from there, our hearts can sink very fast. Then, we can become saddened to the point of depression. I know depression very well and suffered through it miserably in my early twenties. My friend, a devout member of a ‘Holiness’ religion, would say to me at the time, “You got that spirit on ya’.” She didn’t mean to be offensive, and I didn’t hold this against her, but her statement didn’t encourage me in Christ; it made me feel even worse.
It’s been years since I’ve thought about the comment my friend would make during my times of deep sadness, but a recent interaction with a wonderful woman brought the feelings back to my remembrance. She’s had more than a few relationships that didn’t end in the way that she’d hoped. Her heart is still aching, and she is struggling with feelings of loneliness and depression. She also shared that she felt I had been insensitive to the challenges and heartbreaks of some single Christian women that have been in wait-mode a long time.
Authority is earned when a person does more than talk the talk, they walk the walk. They speak from a place of experience—of having learned hard lessons well. I assumed authority in the area of loneliness because I was in the boxing ring with it for more than a minute. We had quite a few rounds, and I walked away stronger in the Lord, determined to walk in faith and receive whatever He deemed best for my life. I said to Heavenly Father, “I’d like to be married, but I’m okay with it being just You and me, if that is Your Will.” Don’t get me wrong, in my heart of hearts, I really wanted to be partnered in marriage, but not with the wrong person. I had been down that route and understood on the deepest level possible that it wasn’t worth the emotional and mental energy.
I understood my uniqueness as a woman, and I learned to walk in it humbly and confidently. I knew that certain things in a man just wouldn’t work for me. And if there wasn’t anyone out there that could genuinely stand in a space and place of destiny with me, I would trust God to help me rock this journey as a single soldier, and I’d be cool with it.
Renewing my mind to God’s Word helped me receive His divine healing in the area of depression and loneliness in my life. It has continued to help me walk in wholeness in these areas for many years. Committing myself to God opened the door of opportunity to marital partnership. He taught me many spiritual lessons and gave me pearls of wisdom about what it takes to be spiritually prepared to partner. I have endeavored to share them with as many people as possible. So, when this wonderful sister gleaned the impression that I didn’t understand the struggle, it renewed my commitment to encourage sisters to hold fast to the dream. It also sparked a newfound desire to encourage sisters more seasoned in maturity and age to never lose hope and not faint in their minds.
My friend was more mature in years than me, but still lacked the wisdom to encourage me back then in a way that inspired hope beyond my condition. It would have helped my journey tremendously to know that the introduction of light dispels darkness and changing the way we think according to the positives of God’s promises brings life!
When we say anything that is contrary to what God says, we are in error. He will not back it up. He will not bless that which is not done in Heaven. There is no sadness in heaven, but it is permitted in earth because of the darkness that exists within it. Before I knew better, I said repeatedly, “I am sad…I am depressed…I am so lonely.” Heaven couldn’t get the blessing to me because the blessings were bound up by my confessions. The words we speak and the thoughts we think must be in alignment with heaven, for heaven is the destiny of our existence. Anything outside its reality is not the truth, but a lie from the pit of hell.
James 4:3(NKJV) says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss…” When we ask, we should not ask amiss. When we confess, we should not confess amiss. In other words, when we ask, we shouldn’t ask in a way that misses the mark of God’s truth. When we confess, we should not confess in a way that misses the mark of His truth. 1John 5:14 says that if we ask anything according to His WILL, He hears us. We must ask according to God’s Will. We must confess according to God’s Will. His Will is His Word; therefore, we must ask according to His WORD. We must confess that we are what HE says we are, that we can have what HE says we can have, and we can do what HE says we can do.
God says that His Word doesn’t go out void. He sends it to us, and we have the great privilege and responsibility to present it back to Him in faith. This is our required response to Him—to send it back to Him in faith.
If we sink so low in our thoughts and confessions, that God’s encouragement irks us, that’s a problem; a pretty big one. Heavenly Father will not support our being comfortable with a mind-and-heart-set like this. He’ll continually send someone to shake us up and shake us out of our weariness—to make us dive full force into His Word so that our strength is renewed. Then, we’ll mount up with wings like eagles. We’ll run and not be weary, we’ll walk and not faint—not in our minds, and not in our hearts.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Don’t Faint in Your Mind” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2019. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.