You feel stuck in life and spiritually empty. It feels like the tide has gone out, and a once vibrant river of life has dried up. If this describes you, don’t worry, there is hope! You can get free in life, and you can reignite the fire of your faith again! In this post, I will discuss how.
Mozambique has the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. I witnessed it while on a mission trip with my Church. We learned that there was an unreached people group living on an island a few miles off the coast, so we took a boat over to the small island. We pitched tents among the huts and began sharing the gospel.
It was heaven on earth, like living the New Testament. Over the next few days, many were saved, healed, and delivered. The people stayed up all night worshipping, and in the morning we baptized them in the ocean. Bibles were given out, a church was planted, and the local missionaries created a beautiful longterm relationship with us.
When it was time to go, we returned to where we had anchored our boat. The good news was our boat was where we left it — the bad news was that the water was not. The water had receded back to a few football fields away, and our boat was lying on its side.
“I forgot to tell you,” the local translator spoke up, “the high and low tides are pretty extreme here.”
Ya. Thanks for that, I thought.
6 Things to Do When You Are Stuck
1. Remember the High and Low Tides
We love our high-tide seasons with God. We feel close to Him, everything is flowing and just makes sense. This season is the best.
We must remember, though, there are spiritual low-tide seasons, as well, seasons where we feel we are stuck on dry ground, like our boat. God seems like He is nowhere to be found, the water of His presence feels far and distant.
This is OK. This is natural. DO NOT PANIC.
It is easy to freak out when we don’t “feel” God like we have in the past. Anxiety can become rampant in our life! If you struggle with anxiety read my post about how to conquer it. It can be tempting to think that faith doesn’t work, and often we run back to the comforts of this world.
But actually, these low-tide seasons are amazing opportunities. Like low tide reveals what is hidden underneath the water, we can use this time to measure the depth of our faith. What do you turn to when you feel empty or alone? What lies or fears emerge when you feel far from God? Once you determine these, God can remove them from your life when you pick them up and bring them to Him.
2. Choose to Chase the Tide
If we are not careful, we can assume this dry season of faith is the new normal. We can get to thinking we’ll never have a high-tide moment with God again. If we think this for too long, we could even start giving up on looking for God, and the intimacy of our faith starts to die.
I have met so many Christians who speak of the “good old years” when they used to be on fire for Jesus, but the fire faded. The tide went out.
That day, on that little island off of Mozambique, we had a choice with our boat: either give up altogether, wait and hope the water would return before nightfall (which would cause us to miss our flight home the next day), or push the boat to where the water was.
We picked the last choice, and so must you.
In the low-tide moments of our faith, we can give up, refuse to do anything new and different, and hope maybe one day God will return. Or we can pick up our lives and push ourselves to find God wherever He has gone.
God promises that if you move to find Him, you will. Jeremiah 29:13 ESV promises, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Where do you most often meet God? In worship? Prayer? Scripture? Solitude? Bible study? Try seeking Him in one of the other ways. Be willing to engage with God in a new way; it might just be where the “tide” has gone for this season.
If God is moving in a new way, then let’s push the boat of our lives to follow — no matter where He goes.
3. Get the “Cholululu Power” of Community
On that beach that day, with our boat lying sideways in the mushy sand, we were pretty discouraged, but the locals were not at all.
“Don’t worry, we will use cholululu power.”
“What is cholululu power?” we asked.
“It means ‘we can do it’!” Then the locals all started singing a song called Cholululu.
They had been through this before, so they knew just what to do. They grabbed some wooden logs and set a row of them in front of the boat. We all pushed the boat onto the row of logs, and while yelling, “CHOLULULU!” we would push the boat forward.
When we feel stuck in life or faith, it can help a great deal to go to people who are not stuck and who have been through “low tide” spiritual seasons before.
Admittedly, it’s hard to be vulnerable, open up, and ask for help. Many of us would rather push a one-ton boat across wet sand than open up about our heart issues. But unless you open up, stuck in the sand you will stay.
Problems with finances? Go to someone and ask for advice on how to get out from under. Is it a troubled marriage? Find a couple who has built an amazing marriage and ask them to mentor you. Is it with God? Find a spiritual mentor who can help walk you through the steps to getting unstuck.
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4. Embrace the Little-by-Little
Even with 10 people, we could only move our stuck boat a few inches at a time. The heaviest things in life often move too slow for our preference. That’s OK. It may feel like progress is taking forever, but even when you use all your strength to move an inch, you are no longer stuck!
Exodus 23:30 speaks about how God would lead the people slowly into the promised land as they conquered it. Little by little, you will conquer this dry season in your faith, too. Just don’t give up.
If you feel you are in a desert season of your faith, I encourage you to read this post about what God could be doing there.
5. Worship When You Don’t Feel Like It
Worship is a weapon. While we pushed through the thick sand on that beach, singing to God took our attention off of the 2,000-lb boat and reminded us that with God, all things are possible.
The entire four hours it took to push the boat back into the surf, we sang Chulululu and other worship songs. Did it get old? Did I want to stop singing? Yes! But I found the more we worshipped, the less we felt worried about the boat.
We can either blame God for the circumstance, or we can worship Him through it. One will make us depressed. The other will give us the strength we need to overcome.
6. Pump Out the Lies
I don’t know if I’ve ever been happier to see water than at the moment my feet touched the cold Indian Ocean. It took half the day, but we made it. We all climbed aboard and set off.
About halfway across the channel, I noticed water began to cover my feet, and worse, it was filling the boat. I mentioned it to a local, who reached under the bench he sat on and handed me a pump.
“Pump the water out faster than it comes in, and we will be fine,” he calmly remarked.
The next two hours, my teammate and I took turns pumping. We didn’t have the option to stop. If we didn’t “feel like it,” the boat would sink.
Often, especially when trying to get spiritually unstuck, many lies start flooding into your thoughts to take away all your progress. Expect this and be prepared for it.
When you are tired, you can’t give up. Believe the lies, and you start to sink. We must choose to pump out the lies and pump in the truth. We cannot afford to stop.
Whenever a lie comes in, look up and memorize a Bible verse that speaks truth into that situation. God’s truth will keep you afloat.
As night was falling, we finally pulled into the dock at home and. Somehow, against all odds, we made it back in time.
When you feel stuck in your faith or life, it’s OK. Honestly, it happens to every single believer. What matters is what you choose to do when this happens. If we remember the tides, get into community, embrace the little-by-little process, worship throughout, and pump out the lies, I know we will get unstuck and make it home.
I ask others to pray for discernment over what direction to take next. Especially in the season I am in right now. I also pray to God to go before me and guide my steps. The power of prayer😊
Love this Taylor! Thanks for Commenting! Prayer and Community are so key to getting through any hard season! Praying for you for clarity and strength in this season!