Pressure

Stop me if you've heard this one before- "It's good to be under pressure; it means you're still in the game." It's a quote from the movie 'Catching Faith'.

This morning I was trying to think about what to write. I thought about the study I've been doing on Mary, the mother of Jesus, the thought-provoking devotional I'd read about fellowship between the Trinity, and my dad's advice about the balance between excitement and anxiety when you're facing something new; but it was this phrase that caught my eye as I ate popcorn and watched this movie on Netflix on my quiet Friday night.

What pressure are you under today? What's going on in your life that's weighing you down? What have you been praying for God to relieve you from?

I don't remember off the top of my head where it is but in the New Testament there's a place where Paul talks about the thorn in his side and how he's prayed for God to remove it but God hasn't.

Paul! An apostle of God! Jesus appeared to him in person on the road to Damascus! He spoke to him personally! And he had a thorn on his side? Unanswered prayer? How is that possible?

Maybe it was because he was teaching Paul something, I don't know but I am sure that God put it in the Bible to teach us something.

Sometimes God's answer is no.

Sometimes He doesn't remove the thorn, He doesn't change the marriage, He doesn't save the house, He doesn't cure the illness or provide the job and we don't understand why. But there's always a reason even when we can't see it.

So when the pressure's on and you feel like you're about to drown, take a deep breath and change your perspective. Remember, "It's good to be under pressure; it means you're still in the game."