"People will ask, how come I haven't had my breakthrough yet? It's cause you haven't gotten desperate enough. Desperation is the door that breakthrough walks through. If you give me desperate enough people, miracles will break through."
This rock-bottom mentality has been on my mind for quite some time. As someone who has the type of personality that desires to put out a safety net for those I care about, catch people before they fall, and save them from themselves, I have learned a profound truth through experience: Sometimes people have to hit rock bottom in order to become who they were made to be... and sometimes we have to let them.
It has been easy to slip into viewing this approach as a cruel one, considering that one of the gifts of life that makes my heart the happiest is to help other people. However, sometimes we end up being a crutch for our loved ones by always being there to catch them, rather than allowing Jesus to catch them. Sometimes, we have to let people develop that intimacy with the Lord through their personal battles with Him. I have come to believe that there is a difference between carrying someone's burdens with them and taking their character growth from them by breaking their fall. There are deep lessons that we can learn amidst our struggles yet when we always have a crutch in the form of a human, we are not able to realize that God is our ultimate Savior and help in times of trouble. He is the only One that can fill the void, the only One that gives us our security, and the only One that gives us our worth. As someone who has struggled with insecurity, someone I love can tell me a hundred times that I am beautiful -- and although I appreciate it immensely -- I won't believe it until it becomes a reality within myself with the help of the One Who created me. This requires time spent with Him, obedience to His Word, and believing that what He has said is true, no matter what those around us believe or say.
There is a reason that people say: in order to love someone else, you have to first love yourself. This is because relationships are not intended to perfect our stay on earth. We are intended to be content with our Heavenly Father, and every good thing in addition is to be a bonus that positively contributes to our fleeting stay here. God has intended for us to have a surety that comes from Him alone. This way, we are never unfairly expecting that fulfillment from other people or vices.
An individual can ask every single friend and family member that they have for advice on a matter, yet it is when they decide to make the choice for themselves that it is set-in-stone. Sometimes, we have to learn that the only way to get a true answer is to seek the Lord's Wisdom alone.
I heard a sermon the other day that made this rock-bottom mentality so tangible in light of scripture. It was about Jairus and the "woman" with the flow of blood. It was when Jairus's very own 12 year old daughter was dying before his very eyes that he came to Jesus. Likewise, it was after 12 years of the woman struggling with the flow of blood that she reached out to touch Jesus' garment. Both of these individuals' utter desperation brought them to the feet of Jesus. After 12 years of struggling with trying to find her cure, the woman finally reached out to Jesus with the realization that only HE could heal her. She had hit rock bottom. And she was healed. It was after Jairus' own baby girl -- his flesh and blood -- was on the brink of leaving the world that he reached out to His Savior in an effort to preserve her life. And Jesus brought his daughter back from the dead, in the face of many people laughing at the impossibility of the idea.
How many of us have hit rock bottom? And have we considered that maybe it is a vital place to be at some point in all of our lives? Because it is not until we are at the very bottom of a well when there is no longer an option to look down any more. There is only up; there is only God; there is only rebuilding and climbing and hope. It is here that we discover our true strength, where it rests, and that God is the only one who can help us on the trek. We can not do it alone, even though we may have initially thought we could. Rock-bottom is not a negative aspect of life; it is a transformational one as long as we get up and don't stay there. Do something with your breakdown. Let it become a breakthrough. A testimony. And don't wait for someone to save you. We must realize that with the Lord, we are saved already- we just have to embrace that fact and live the life that He has called us to live... in obedience.
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