I saw an instagram post, by a woman that I follow entitled, “How I turned my life around at 40”. I love these inspiring stories of how we can go from darkness to light, from shame to glory, from weakness to strength. Life with Jesus is all about that, right? We give Him dry bones, He puts flesh on them and put His breath into them. For Him, nothing is impossible. To use the analogy: we can be in that pit, with nothing but stone walls towering above and all around us; light (freedom) is too far up for us to hope of climbing up. Someone can begin shoveling dirt in, and we are like: “It is getting worse! Now I am being buried alive!!!” Only to find we can start stamping the ground down under our feet and, as more dirt gets shoveled in, we are getting higher, rising up to the surface. Eventually our heads pop out the top and there is fresh air, and sunshine, and a breeze on our sweaty, filthy skin. We can see trees and grass and hear the birds…

I’ve just climbed out of what felt like (yet another) pit. I seem to have a knack for falling into them. It wasn’t just one thing that helped me get in that pit, it was multiple, but before I knew it, I was in a pit. Once I realised the state I was in, that I was trapped and progressed past the: “How in the heck did I get in here?!?!” stage, I went straight to, panic. It was dark, super manky and, it stank! I was filthy from the muck. The realization began to dawn that I’d probably been in here a while. From there, I went directly to self-pity, to blaming someone else, including God. The refrain went something like: “God, after all I’ve been through, how could You let me fall in this pit?” Once that was all over – thank goodness! (I feel like I got a heavenly ‘Amen’ to thank goodness the self-pity stopped). I called and He answered me. As the Bible says: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles” Psalm 34:17. (If you are in a pit, especially if you are a habitual pit-jumper, like myself, can I recommend the whole of Psalm 34 to you?). He then went to work shoveling in the dirt and for a while there was dirt in my eyes, I was getting dirtier, (a little bit more self-pity) until I got smart and stood back when the dirt came flying in, then quickly stomped while He was getting another shovel load. I began good at timing my stomping and hiding my face from the flying dirt. I was so busy with this for a time that I didn’t realize that the ground was rising beneath my feet, but soon it became unmistakeable. I was getting closer to freedom! I started to get hopeful, then excited, and soon I could hear His voice! Oh, and when you hear His voice! Oh, when there has been a drought of the Word of God and then you hear it again! The chords it strikes in your heart, the resonance… I heard Beth Moore talk about the concept of “resonance” as a musical term.
Here is the Dictionary definition for resonance from a quick google search:

  1. 1. the quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating.”the resonance of his voice”
    • the power to evoke enduring images, memories, and emotions.”the concepts lose their emotional resonance”
  2. 2. PHYSICS the reinforcement or prolongation of sound by reflection from a surface or by the synchronousvibration of a neighbouring object.
  3. 3. the condition in which an electric circuit or device produces the largest possible response to an applied oscillating signal.
    • MECHANICS the condition in which an object or system is subjected to an oscillating force having a frequency close to its own natural frequency.
  4. 4. ASTRONOMY the occurrence of a simple ratio between the periods of revolution of two bodies about a single primary.
  5. 5. CHEMISTRY the property of having a molecular structure which cannot adequately be represented by a single structural formula but is a composite of two or more structures of higher energy.
  6. 6. PHYSICS a short-lived subatomic particle that is an excited state of a more stable particle.

It is as though His voice reverberates something essential within us. Striking a chord in the deepest part of your being. It’s not a physical voice. It’s more like I’ll be thinking something, I’ll pick up my bible and the Word will be spot on, right on, too spot on for it to be a coincidence. Sometimes, I recognize that the verse was right there, right then, waiting for me to read it right now. At other times, when the scripture, or concept, is in my morning study, then repeated by an Instagram post and in my daily reading app – when that happens I sit up and pay attention. I’ve had a few WORDS spoken to me lately. They struck The Chord within me, and stayed in my mind, like they were written on the back of my eyeballs – another way I know they’re His, not just mine. (Oh so beautiful and wonderful to be “in tune” with Him again!) The first word, I think, I saw in an Instagram post. At that point I was still in the pit, stomping the dirt and hiding from the flying dirt… stomping and hiding, over and over, thinking: “This is so hard, I’ll never get out of here!” The word was: “God can do more in two weeks than we can accomplish in forty years.” That was about three weeks ago, and it has happened. I am free.

The other Word was sent to me by my mentor in the USA. She is a godly woman of my mother’s-sort-of-age, beautiful in every way. She radiates kindness, never judges me, is never harsh, always compassionate, and always willing to pray for her pit-jumping mentee. She is such an incredible blessing to me! If she is reading this: I love you, Brenda! It went something along the lines of, “If it is meant for you, God will make it happen.” That has been an anchor for me, especially now, as I pray and hope for a work opportunity that I will absolutely love to do.

But, back to pits. Some helpful advice, from an expert at falling into pits.
Step one, recognize you are in a pit.

  1. How to know you are in a pit:
    You are doing a lot of complaining about your circumstances, and a lot of blaming others for your circumstances.
    You are continually tempted to compromise and have just ‘a little bit of sin in your life’. Because you deserve it. Because life is so hard right now and you need something to take the edge off, to help you numb the pain you feel.
    You don’t feel much (or any) desire for prayer or reading your bible. Life is just too busy, ya know?
    You are carrying resentment and bitterness; rehearsing the record of wrongs committed against you. And boy oh boy do you have a list!
    You are envying. So-and-so wouldn’t be so holy if she didn’t have the nicest job/ house/ family, whatever.
    You are judging others for their sins, especially in the areas where you are struggling.
    You justify why you can’t make it to church, for weeks.
  2. How to get out of a pit:
    Admit you got yourself in there. Not your husband/ friend/boss. You.
    Repent and ask God for forgiveness.
    Stop numbing out – do whatever it takes. Yes it is hard. Do it anyway.
    Confess to someone trustworthy and ask for prayer. Not the person who does it too – the other person!
    And most importantly, call out to God!
    Go to church every week, unless you or your child is very ill (or contagious). Side bar: we easily justified not going because going with a toddler is (almost) a waste of time. Except, its also not. The solution for us was, my husband goes to church one week, and I look after the kids in kids church, and we rotate. It gets the kids used to kids church. Little by little we can actually be in kids church, doing prescribed the activities, instead of cruising the parking lot. Moms and Dads, you get it!
    Instead of Instagram/ Pinterest last thing before sleep, read your bible through a daily reading bible program.
    Schedule a morning prayer and bible study time.
    Treat your body and mind like you would treat your child: monitor what goes in, enough water, enough fruit and veg, less sugar, enough sleep and regular exercise. And no junk on TV, in your novels, etc!
    If you think you may have a health issue that needs medical assistance, get the medical assistance that you need.

My circumstances have changed now that I am out of that pit, but not drastically so. What has changed drastically is my perception of my circumstances. I have HOPE for what comes next because I know it’s going to get better. My months of being trapped in a pit are over. Take it from me, you too can turn your life around.