Climbing out of the hole

     At this time last week I was in a hole. Of course I am not being literal here, I had not physically fallen into a hole in the earth, but it felt the same. It was dark and cold and I was trying to find a footing to climb out when all of the sudden my hole caved in on top of me. I fell to the bottom of the hole and couldn't fathom how I might climb back out. The reason why I was in that hole , the details, don't matter. Its different for all of us. Something I may handle just fine might push someone else into the same kind of hole . What matters is that when I hit the bottom, I was bruised, shaken, and scared. What matters is how I managed to stand in the darkness and begin to work my way back up to flat ground where there is sure footing and the warmth of the sunshine on my face.
     I speak of my faith often. I am proud of my relationship with my Lord, its my passion, my life, and my strength. Without HIM I am nothing and most assuredly without HIM this last week I would still be curled in a fetal position at the bottom of that deep dark hole .
     The first thing that I did when I hit bottom was call a friend who is also strong in faith. No matter how much faith I think I have, it doesn't hurt to have someone around who has just as much. It never hurts to have support and encouragement from someone who genuinely loves you and will pray for you. It never hurts to have someone hold your hand or give a hug while you are hurting.
     The next thing I did was pray. That sounds easy but at the time I wasn't even sure what to pray for. So I had to rely on what my Bible tells me in Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. I prayed for hours, at times with words, at times with weeping. God knew my heart, HE felt my pain. He filled me with peace and strength to face what was ahead, the climbing out of the hole.
     I will not lie, my hole was deep and it took awhile to find a foothold. There were moments when I slipped and fell back down and had to start all over again. There were moments when I froze in fear and had to shake myself back to the task at hand. Just as I thought I might be almost to the top, I would just as Peter did as he was walking out on that water to meet Jesus, doubted and had to reach for HIS hand.
     For the rest of this week I have immersed myself into HIS word. I have spent hours reading my Bible, coming to an understanding as to where that hole came from and how I fell into it to begin with. I have held on to the promises contained within it to fill me with peace and strength for my days and rest for my nights.I have indeed made my way to the top of the hole and climbed out. The sunshine is warming my face and even though my legs are tired from all that climbing , they are feeling much stronger now. I haven't walked away from the hole yet. I am still standing there looking at it, amazed that I made it out alive. I pray someday very soon I can turn around and walk away never to see it again. Until then, I will continue to lean on my friends, pray, and read my Bible so that don't fall back into that very same hole again.