Luke 7:11-17

Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

This story is one of the saddest in the gospels. It describes the life of a single mother who had just lost her only son. Nothing much is known about her, only at some time she had lost her husband and was now about to bury her only son. The story is so sad that it breaks the heart of Jesus and moves him with deep compassion for her.

I am sure she struggled and wrestled with discouragement. I am sure she asked herself questions like – why me and where is God? But I believe that in this difficult time she found what was necessary to help her rise above her discouragement.

Let me suggest three decisions she made that helped her rise above:

She fought the temptation to Isolate herself…

• Isolating oneself is one of the most dangerous mistakes one can make when going through a discouraging time. She found the courage to allow her friends to rally around her and keep her strong in this trying time. If you are going through a tough time today, I urge to do the same and surround yourself with loved ones and friends, they will be a blessing to you. I understand, sometimes people tend to kill others with too much kindness, but that is better than receiving none.

She opened your heart to the Lord’s comfort…

• Depending on who we listen to, we can either rise above or descend deeper into discouragement. If you tell yourself things like – “I don’t fit in, my life is going nowhere, I will never amount to anything, God doesn’t love me” – than it’s going to be hard to rise above. Every negative word is orchestrated to keep you discouraged. The bible says,  she opened her heart to the words of Jesus – “don’t cry”- and she allowed his words to saturate her life.

Press on whether you get a miracle or not…

• Sometimes, we give up too easily when we don’t see a lot of progress in our lives. When our prayers and expectations are not met, we tend to think that God doesn’t care about us. What would you do if Jesus/God doesn’t raise to life a dead relative of yours? You keep on moving forward trusting him. That’s how you rise above discouragement. You fix your eyes upon Him, trusting that He knows what He’s doing in your life.

My prayer for you today is that you will rise above every circumstance in your life. That you will have a testimony to share with someone in their time of need. Praying for you!