Staying Upbeat When We Encounter the Forest

As a little girl, I was afraid of the dark. It’s still not one of my favorite things, but over the years, I’ve learned to compensate. (Aren’t nightlights wonderful?)

I was thinking about “the dark” again recently and how fear, tension, and negativity affect our mindset and self-esteem.

People who live in the dark often do so willingly. They choose fear over freedom. Tension over tranquility. Negativity, not new beginnings.

Scaredy cats tiptoe lightly around the perimeters of life because it feels safe there. They trade visions of greatness for capes of complacency. As others seek light and experience joy, naysayers trudge deeper into the forest hoping that the ugly goblins won’t get them, but fully expecting them to.

And that’s how the Enemy works.

He plays with our minds. He wrecks our resolve. He deceives with darkness.

He convinces us we can’t, we won’t, or we shouldn’t. He wounds our spirit. He clouds our judgment.

Jennifer Rothschild knows a little something about living in the dark. Literally. At the tender age of 15 when most girls her age were into make-up, music, boys, and clothes, the unthinkable happened. Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. She lost her sight.

Was she scared? Yes. Did she think about giving up? Yes. Did she choose to live in darkness? No way!

When I had the privilege of hearing this Gutsy Girl speak at last year’s Fresh Grounded Faith conference, I was moved beyond words. (If you think you’re scared of the forest, try navigating one of the nations busiest airports by yourself–blind! Now, that’s courage!) This gal’s testimony made me want to remove my diaper of shame and pull up my big girl pants when I start to whine and complain. If you’d like to find out more about my FGF experience, you can read about it here. And here.

The lovely Jill Kemerer recently shared a page from her time spent in the forest. I cried as I read about the circumstance that wounded her little girl heart. In her poignant post (4/16/12), “Always Dream,” Jill talked about a childhood experience that could have immobilized her and left her bitter. Instead, she chose perseverance. She chose positivity. She chose the sunlight. Way to go, Jill!

Clouds are always going to roll by, move in, and cloud our vision. There’ll be days where the cold, dark forest holds greater appeal than the golden warmth of the sunlit field.

For instance, try telling the momma whose child is struggling to survive her next round of chemo “Now, just stay upbeat.”

Or try saying this to the 20 year employee who was suddenly downsized: “It will all work out.”

And perhaps, this will motivate the young mother in church whose husband just left, “It could be worse. Think positive.”

What we should realize:

• There will always be elephant-sized detours, dilemmas, heartbreak, heartache, and problems of earth-shaking magnitude. Staying upbeat will be the farthest thing from our minds. It’ll take every ounce of resolve we have not to hunker down in the forest. Sometimes, it’ll take supernatural intervention and a God-sized miracle!

• When encountering those in the forest recognize that, for them, the issue is very real. Downplaying the situation doesn’t endear. It alienates and causes resentment. When our son struggled with a life-threatening health condition years ago, patronizing comments fell on deaf ears. On the other hand, words of positivity were like spun gold.

• Praise and encouragement carry weight. They have the ability to influence the bleakest of outcomes. For 15-year-old Jennifer Rothschild, they shaped a lifelong ministry. When asked what the best advice she ever received was, Jennifer says this, “My mom always told me, ‘You can do anything you put your mind to.’ I actually believed her!”

• Forests exist for a reason, but we shouldn’t set up camp in them. Lingering temporarily while we wallow in the crud of life is realistic. It’s human. Remaining in the dank, dark woods for very long, though, isn’t God’s best for us. Jill Kemerer could have let the intentional, hurtful words of one person undermine what she believed to be true. Instead, she dug her heels in and proved she was a winner.

If you’re experiencing a forest kind of season in life right now, you may feel like you’re in “pause mode.” You may think that you’re never going to find sunlight again because the forest seems so dark. The underbrush is thick and the trees far too many.

But can I tell you something?

These are the times that God does His greatest work!

“And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:10-11 NIV)

Indeed.

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Can you think of a time you encountered a forest?

What lessons did you learn?

Photo Credit: Dan/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Blessings Always,