Dear Goldie
I am going through so many difficulties and problems. I may be retrenched. My application for a loan has been rejected, my bag was snatched, my husband needs an operation…
I am just overwhelmed. I dont know why God is doing this to me. I’ve been going to church regularly, reading my Bible and praying, and doing my best to be a good Christian. Some days, I just dont want to get out of bed to face all these hard knocks.
Knocked Out.
Dear Knocked Out,
You may be down but you need not be out. In order to be an overcomer, you need to first have the correct mindset. Like a lot of people when they meet with challenges, you suspect you haven’t done enough to please God to deserve His blessings.
Get rid of the enemy’s lie that God is piling on the suffering to punish you.
The truth is:
God is good and He loves you, and “because of His great love … mercy … wants to show you the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness …” (Eph 2:4-7). He has “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…” ( Jer 29:11). So align your thinking correctly with what God says, not what the enemy wants you to believe.
No one goes through life without challenges, but God uses them to mould you into the person He wants you to be. Pressure exposes issues that you need to deal with. Like a silversmith who removes the dross, God is refining your character as you go through the fire. So ask God what responses, behaviour, actions He wants you to have. Then you can really “rejoice in sufferings because … suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope … because God has poured out his love into your heart …” (Rom 5:3-5).
Look to God for supernatural solutions and deliverance. Like Paul and Silas who prayed and praised at midnight, God spectacularly opened the prison doors. When Jesus commanded the wind and waves to be still, the storm ceased. In the case of Moses, he was so overwhelmed with the burden of having to lead two million Israelites in the desert that he pleaded, “teach me your ways … go with me … show me your glory” (Exo 33:12- 23). God replied that He would grant all that he asked.
I am going through an overwhelming time of stress myself and can testify that God is going through it with me. As Psalm 91 says: “Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge …” I thank God that He is doing the saving, the covering, the protecting and the helping. My part is to “make the Most High my dwelling – the Lord my refuge … then no harm will befall me, no disaster will come near my tent …”
When I believe God’s promise never to leave or forsake me and that no weapon formed against me will prosper and all things work together for my good, peace comes to calm my fears. Furthermore, my loving Father invites me to “call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you …” ( Jer 29:12, 13).
Continue soaking in His Word, declaring it, believing it, receiving it and applying it, as well as praying and fellowshipping with Christians. All this will increase your intimacy with God, and in His presence, your faith will increase to tap into His unlimited resources to help you in your time of need. 
Do you have an issue you need advice on? Write to Dear Goldie at goldie@deargoldie.com for her godly counsel. Selected questions may be featured in this column. If you leave an email address, you will have your question answered, whether it’s published or not.
