Who was there all along

 A year or two ago I wrote a post called The Voice that Lies* in that post I talked about the three voices in our minds, The Spirit, our own personal voice (the essence of who we are) and the adversary's voice, that which lies and manipulates our emotions. If you'd like to read that post you can find the URL at the bottom of the page. The summary was that we need to be conscious of the voices and to invite the Spirit to help us to discern truth so that in those split second moments when we have the choice whether to believe the lies and choose to feel negatively about something or to recognize the lie we choose to reject the lie and trust the good. I've been thinking a lot about this moment of decision and reminding myself that I have the choice to control my emotions, they don't have to control me.

But what happens when we are under attack and we don't see the moment of choice for what it is, what do we do when the voices in our mind get so loud, so persistent, so persuasive, so overwhelming and so powerful that we don't see the moment when we make a choice to feel lonely, to feel exhausted, to feel attacked, to feel alone, to feel picked on, to feel that life is unfair? What do we do when we feel like we just can't take it anymore, when we begin to believe that life isn't fair (as a reminder mortal life was not created to be fair, it was created for us to learn through injustice, to fight against pain and disappointment to see the good when it seems darkness and unfairness is prevailing), that no one cares about us, that we are doomed to an endless cycle of drudgery, chores, and upheaval in our minds, that we will always feel cut off from others and separate because our life experience seems so different from their's?

I wish that these were rhetorical questions, that they were generalizations with no grounding in fact or real life. Yet when one seeks for Christ in a world growing in darkness Satan plays a game of no holds barred. He is seeking our souls brothers and sisters, he knows he can't win, he knows and has known that he couldn't win, from the very moment that he chose contrary to our Father's plan he knew he would lose. His only consolation is to try to take as many of our Father's children with him when he loses. This means he doesn't attack us in our strength (though he'll always send a temptation or two just to see if we've grown complacent) this means he'll kick us while we are down and see how many spiritual ribs he can break. This means that he will attack us in our sorrow and confusion and see how long he can keep us wallowing in sadness and fear. This means that he won't give us a breather, he sees this as a fight to the death and we need to realize this is serious. Our very souls are at stake and we need to be willing to put all we have into the fight.
   
   I am quite certain that I am not the first to feel overwhelmed and under armed nor will I be the last. We all have felt our moments of despair, we have all felt at the end of our rope, unsupported, facing the darkness alone and unaided. The key is to realize that this is the voice that lies who is telling you those things. He knows he has more power when you feel you have no power to call upon.

   So in moments of darkness and drowning when you feel you have no hope to reach out to, I hope that you will call upon our Savior, He has all power against that darkness, He can pierce it and cast it out, which is why Satan speaks so loudly that Christ won't, because he knows it isn't a matter of can't. When you feel the distance between you and your Savior widening remember that He walked into a garden and knelt by a rock and prayed for you, He was raised on a cross for you, He walked from a tomb for you. He is the Savior of the World and He is the Captain of your salvation. Your Savior and mine will give you the space you need to take a breath, He will clear the mists from your eyes so that you can see the lies you've been told. Now this doesn't mean the darkness will automatically leave, as much as Christ fights for us, Satan fights against us, he is seeking our souls and he doesn't give up easily, but he must leave when we tell him to. So we seek our Savior to give us the strength to tell our adversary to leave. We seek our loving Savior to reach out to us and pull us from our chasm and we keep seeking the light until we find it.



  I testify that the light will come. All our problems won't be solved, we wouldn't learn the lessons of mortality if they did, but we will gain clearer vision, we will find hope, we will see that there is reason to continue, to keep trying. Whatever holds we can face it because as we learn in the Old Testament, there are more that be with us than they that be with them (Satan and his followers). We are watched over. If there comes a moment of chaos, darkness, doubt, fear and pain call upon our Savior and in His name cast out Satan and those who follow him, Satan will leave and with his leaving we will feel our Savior who was there all along, we just needed the space to feel Him again. This is a fight, but we aren't in it alone.
 






*http://ofchoicesandconsequences.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-voice-that-lies.html