Pits are the pits

"I'm bored" used to be my favorite phrase growing up. By being an only child and having nobody to play with, I would tell this to my Mom and to this she would sometimes give me the silly answer of, "go in the backyard and dig a hole all the way to China."

Needless to say I've had a few attempts, out in my backyard with my Fisher-Price plastic shovel digging away. I never made it to China, but I always seem to have dug an impressive sized pit.

As the years go by and we start growing older we sometimes start digging ourselves a pit as well, but it's not the one you think.

These types of pits are not the ones that involve a shovel and some dirt.

They are the pits that involve our thoughts and emotions that drive us to dig a deeper pit that we eventually get stuck in.

This past year I found myself in one of those pits. The pit I like to call depression. Even though last year should have been the best year of my life thus far, with big events such as getting married to my best friend, but it was actually one of the most difficult times of my life.  I found myself desperately trying to get out of this pit I was stuck in but it seemed no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't seem to get out.  After so many attempts I gave up and let this depression take me over me.

Not every pit is the same.

Some have different names such as; addiction, anxiety, self-image, etc. And how we get there are just as unique.

How we get stuck in pits...

- Negative words spoken to us that we believe, but are not true.

- Negative thoughts we think about our self.

- Unfortunate circumstances that we can’t explain.

 How to get out and stay out...

Getting out isn't as easy as we would like it to be . We have people that don’t quite understand that hover over our pit telling us to climb up, but they don't seem to understand that by ourselves we have tried and tried but every attempt seems to end in failure.

We need help! We can’t get out on our own! We are not to do this life on our own. 

First, we need God’s help, by trusting in Him and believing that He is greater than any pit we may be in. If God sent His one and only Son to die for us on a cross what makes us think that He won't climb down into our pit, cradle us in His arms and carry us out. God can change us from the inside out if we allow Him to. When we let Him take the lead in our life we will begin to see both ourselves and the things around us change.

Along with trusting God we need people that will help lift us up, by surrounding ourselves with Godly people who are going to climb down into your pit and help see you out, no matter how long it may take.  

There is a story in Exodus, where the Israelite's and the Amalekite's armies were at war. God directed Moses to go to the top of the hill during this battle and take companions along with him, so he chose Aaron and Hur.

Exodus 17: 11-12 says "As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset."

When Moses was weak his friends brought a rock for him to sit firmly on (like God's word) and held up his hands until the battle was won. We need to have some Aarons’ and Hurs’ in our lives. Lifting us up in encouragement and the truth found in the scriptures to help us win the battles and get us out of our pits.

Getting out of my pit wasn’t easy, it took a long time and I’m still struggling,  but I have God and trusted friends who hold me up when I am weak. If you are in any type of pit know this, you are not alone and you can get through this- just don’t try to do it by yourself.

Psalm 40:1-3 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.  He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.