Trusting God Amidst Hardship

LISTEN TO EPISODE 7 HERE.

Today, Claudia had a special guest on the podcast: her son, Jesse Dempsey.

We dove deep into the topic of trusting God amidst hardship. Hardship threatens our peace, security, comfort, wellness, and our control (just to name a few). Simply put, hardships are disruptors.

There are so many different categories of hardship from sickness to sleepless nights to financial loss. But, then there are those moments when life delivers a blow that's a little more severe. These moments not only takes our breath away, but often lands us right on our back. We can wondering what in the world happened and how in the world are we supposed to get through this...or if we'll get through it at all.

In this episode, Jesse graciously and openly shared his story of trusting God amidst one of the most painful seasons of his life. This season started in high school. When a series of unexpected events resulted in his struggles with depression and anxiety, he felt as though his identity had been crushed. During this season, he felt like everything had been taken away, and the only person he could turn to was the Lord.

But as he did his best to press through the pain of the situations that surrounded him, life just became harder. He began to experience even more physical and emotional pain. As he slowly felt crippled by OCD and social anxiety, Jesse acknowledged that, "At this point I hated myself, I was angry with God, and was completely hopeless. I thought that I would never be the same socially, and that my life had completely fallen out from beneath me."

Trusting God's goodness and presence in suffering

 At times, Jesse remembered thinking that God had it out for him,  or that God had abandoned him in the midst of that season.

But he reflects back now on the hardship that he endured, He knows that God had been with him. Jesse said, "I know that some of the times where my faith grew the most was where I felt like God was nowhere to be seen, but I still chose to surrender to him and worship him in the midst of my pain."

His social anxiety drew him to a place of deep dependence on the Lord, where he would be encouraged by repeating Psalm 16:8 to himself over and over again:

"Now I know the Lord is always with me, I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me."

To end the episode, Jesse offered encouragement to anyone going through a difficult time: "Hold on," he said, "I know that it may it may seem like you are up against something that is much bigger than you, but it is not bigger than God. God is for you, even if you feel like he is not. God loves you and wants the best for you."

Jesse acknowledged the very common misconception, especially for men, that getting help and receiving help is for the weak, but from Jesse's experience, getting help is one of the strongest things that someone can do in the midst of a tough season. It takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable and take action to fight back against what you may be facing, 

"I know that personally," Jesse said, "and I am better be cause of it."