I love to hear the waves and watch the foamy currents race across the shoreline! I find going to the beach to be an exhilarating experience. Especially exhilarating is to try and walk through the crashing waves yet being knocked off your feet. And then, finding it impossible to stand back up because you cannot stop laughing.

This reminds me so much of real life when we lose our footing. And what is worse, being dragged further and further from the shoreline. Of course, when this happens, it is no laughing matter and panic mode (like the time my backside slid down our staircase!) sets in. Many times, I wonder, “will I ever stand again?” It seems like an impossibility!

Even more agonizing is the spiritual warfare that creeps in without any warning. Like a dark cloud that comes out of nowhere and will not leave. It can certainly send you spiraling downward. Many family members and friends are suffering under the weight of some really hard issues, losses, and illnesses. Maybe you are too, and you’re scared to open the door in fear of what may enter.

How do we keep trusting or even standing? What about the verse in Jeremiah 29:11 that gives us the hope of a secure future? Maybe we are like the Jews who thought Jesus came to set them free from the Romans, but instead came to set them free from sin. Maybe we need to be more like Daniel (Daniel 6:10-28)! Daniel was a man of prayer. Daniel was a prayer warrior as “. . . he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying AND giving thanks before his God” (v. 10).

Daniel prayed and gave thanks! Daniel knew where to find the strength that would keep him standing — spending time in prayer with his God AND giving thanks! Daniel’s purpose was to serve HIS GOD. He understood his purpose for this life – “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21) even when faced with the Lion’s Den!

When our lives are lived for the purpose of glorifying our Heavenly Father, we find strength in prayer and victory in praise just like the army of Jehoshaphat:

. . . he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

2 Chronicles 20:21

Are you feeling slammed? Be like Daniel, pray and give thanks because His love is everlasting!

This quote by Charles Spurgeon sums it up:

“I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages.”