How To Deal With An Emotional Roller Coaster

Ps 42:11 - Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.   NASU
 
Ps 37:7 - "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;…"   NIV 

• Even God's Children Battle Depression 

The Psalmist who is penning down these words is on an emotional roller coaster. Many believe the Psalmist is a priest who is not able to return to Jerusalem to worship God and he is depressed.
 
His adversaries are asking, "Where is your God? If your God really wanted you to worship Him He would have made a way for you to return." So what they are saying is his God has abandoned him.
 
Have you ever felt like God has abandoned you? If you answered this question with a "yes" then you know what an emotional roller coaster is like. 

• To Many Roller Coasters To Name 

Sometimes in life one may feel like they are at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. This park is home to 16 different types of roller coasters with names like Blue Streak, Corkscrew, Iron Dragon, Mean Streak and Wicked Twister to name a few. You know you are going to go up, down and all around before the ride is finished.
 
These rides are guaranteed to make you scream.
 
One difference between the roller coasters at Cedar Point and life is the ones at the park end quickly while the ones in real life last much longer. 

• Some Real Life Roller Coasters 

One day we are gainfully employed and the next day we are without a job, a few months later the car is repossessed and a foreclosure will start on the house in about 90-120 days.
 
One day you are happily married and the next day one is deceased or one wants a divorce.
 
One day you are sitting around the dinner table laughing and talking about the events of the day and the next day you are at a hospital as one family member fights for life.
 
We probably have all had to sit on a roller coaster of life at one time or another. 

• The Big Difference 

There is a big difference between a roller coaster ride at an amusement park and one in life.
 
You get to choose if you want to ride the ones at the park or not. In life the roller coast chooses you and sometimes there is no getting off of it. 

• Two Keys To Surviving Life's Roller Coasters 

The Psalmist tells us to "Hope in God." The first key to us being victorious in any real life situation is to not lose our "Hope in God."
 
One of my favorite passages of scriptures is Romans 8:31-32 - If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? NASU
 
God has given us His Son Jesus Christ and there is nothing more important or valuable to Him than Jesus. Since He gave us Jesus then He will freely give us all things, Paul says.
 
The second key is not an easy one. We are to "be still" and "to wait" for the Lord. Now I don't know about you but being still and waiting are not two of my strong points.
 
The Psalmist is saying while we are being still we are waiting patiently for the Lord.
 
When you find yourself on one of life's emotional roller coasters try not to lose your Hope in God and continue to be still and wait patiently for Him.
 
Think On These:
 
When we let God guide He will provide.
 
The Lord calls for us to stand, though not always understand.

God makes a promise- faith believes it, hope anticipates it, and patience quietly awaits it.

Stay Pumped,

Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word

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