Description

A few years back, life was on an upswing. My schedule was cranking, and everything ran at a high energy level all the time. Yet there were also some difficult and stressful tensions swirling around our family and ministry. It felt like I never had a moment of rest. In my honest times, I felt overwhelmed.

One morning at 2 AM, completely out of the blue, I woke up with a jolt and sat straight up in bed. Sweat poured down my face. My heart was racing. I thought it was going to blow out of my chest. I really thought this was what it felt like to die.

I became stuck in this pattern. Night after night, at 2 AM, I shot straight up, wide awake, with my heart racing. A dark cloud hung over me, an overwhelming feeling of dread. Night after night after night this went on and on and on.

I’ll never forget about two months after all this began. Boom—2 AM came, and I again sat bolt upright in bed. Darkness closed in around me. It felt like I was coming to the end of my rope. I thought, "I can’t do this anymore. I didn’t know where to turn." All I knew was that I couldn’t continue this way. I was at the bottom.

Almost on reflex, my heart prayed, "God, you’ve got to help me." That’s all I could think to say. "God, please, please help."

There was no bolt of lightning. No fast fix. No immediate cure. But the smallest snippet of a Bible verse floated through my head from Job 35:10, about how God gives us songs in the night. I said, "God I don’t know what else to do. But if you’ll give me a song tonight, then I’ll praise you."

The little song wasn’t a promise that God would heal me then and there. Yet God was still a healer, and I believed in him and in his purposes. That was enough for the moment—and it was the beginning of how God created a comeback in my life.

For nights, weeks, and even months to come, I experienced a strange rhythm of dread and peace, peace and dread. Some nights it was cloud, cloud, song, song. Other nights it was song, song, cloud, cloud. Gradually, mercifully, it became song, song, song, cloud. Then one night there was no cloud at all. For months on end, it remained simply song, song, song, song.

If you’re in a dark place like I was, know that you’re not crazy, and you’re not alone. Maybe you have a struggle similar to mine. Maybe you have conflict with your friends, coworkers, or relatives. Maybe you’re battling to overcome an addiction. Whatever the cause, life hasn’t turned out for you the way you hoped. The good news is that Jesus can meet you there and offer you a comeback. He can redeem even the worst circumstances for his glory and your best. And he offers this comeback to you right now.

During the next six days, we will look at stories of men and women in the Bible to see how God gives hope to the hopeless, direction to the directionless, and help for those who need help. All we have to do is lift up our hands in response to God’s reaching down and declare that his plan is take us out of the valley. He can—and will—give us a comeback and lead us through.

Respond

Can you recall a storm in your life that you thought was insurmountable? How did you see God come through for you?

Why do comeback stories give us hope?

Is there an area of your life you need a comeback right now?

Scripture –

Psalms 43:5 KJV

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

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