Crying Out in Our Moment of Despair

For three years, I suffered every kind of abuse you can imagine.  With each day, the abuse grew greater and my despair increased.

We all want the fairy tale…but do we listen to God

Sadly, God had tried to warn me when I first entered this relationship, but I refused to heed his warning.  I thought I couldn’t live without this man.

So, God gave me the desires of my heart and showed it was not his will for my life.

I was broken and cut off from all of my friends and family during this time.  I had nowhere to turn, but to God.  I could talk to God in my heart and no one could take that from me.  I got to the point I fell asleep crying out to God every night.

I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.  I didn’t know if I would survive this relationship.  I didn’t know how to get out, based on the lack of resources I had.  I didn’t even know where to go, because I had been cut off from God.

Abuse leads to despair and God is the only place to turn

I cried out to God in my moment of despair.  I continued to cry out to God in my despair for over three years.  Yet, in that time God was protecting me, proving His provision for my needs and breaking my spirit and will to seek His face.

Do you remember the story of Jonah and the whale?   Jonah refused to obey God and ran from him, until he was thrown overboard and swallowed up by a whale.  He resided in that whale for three days and cried out to God before the whale threw him up on the shores of where God had been telling him to go from the beginning.

Don’t fall into the belly of the whale

While he was in the belly of the whale, he probably cried out something similar to these words from King David in Psalm 18:6, “But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.” {NLT}

In your distress and despair do you cry out to the Lord?