Learning how to get back up is crucial if you want a happy life

We singles seem to be at a disadvantage. When we need to get back up after being knocked down, it seems as if we have no one to encourage us.

But things are not always what they seem. God is our greatest encourager, and he will help us persevere if we ask him for help. Living the Christian life is impossible without letting Christ live through us.

Over the years and through many knockdowns, I've learned a few things about how to get back up. Sometimes my lessons were expensive, in time and pain, so I'd like to share them with you here, for free.

Life is going to knock you down

Being a Christian doesn't earn you a ticket to a problem-free life. Disappointments will come, suffering will break through, tragedy will floor you.

It's easy to feel shocked or betrayed when something bad happens. That's exactly how I felt many years ago when my doctor told me I had cancer. I was only 25 at the time, and I thought that as a devout, practicing Christian, I was doing all the right things. I was obeying God to the best of my ability, so how could he let something like this happen to me?

Today, 30 years later, I still don't have all the answers, but I do know this for sure: Believers are not immune. If you can get that through your head and accept that truth, you'll be better prepared when tragedy hits you. And I guarantee you that at some point, it will.

Accepting that fact will help you avoid wasting time on the "Why me?" question and help you focus instead on the "What should I do now?" response.

It really is your choice

One of the things I learned over the years is that when you get knocked down, it's your choice whether to get back up or not.

We can wallow in our self-pity or become bitter over how unfairly life has treated us, but that doesn't bring you any closer to happiness. It takes you in the opposite direction.

Yes, life is unfair and bad things do happen to good people, but the happiest, most successful people discover, sooner or later, that they have to make the decision to get back up. If you have to grieve or be disappointed, go ahead, but put a limit on it.

Your friends and family can support you, they can encourage you and sympathize, but ultimately you have to be the tough guy or gal and resolve to rise above your tragedy.

Your secret weapon against despair

The other important thing I learned from rejections and disappointments is that Jesus Christ is our secret weapon when we need to regroup.

When he was carrying his cross on the way to his own execution, he fell and had to get back up. None of us will ever fall like that.

Jesus knows what it's like to be knocked down. He knows what you need to stand again and he's eager to supply it. Whether it's renewed self-confidence, determination, or the ability to tune out critics, he can provide it to you. He wants you to come to him in prayer.

You may not be able to stand on your own. It may not be humanly possible.

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

That's how you get back up. That's how you keep going when you don't think you can. That's where you find the strength when your own strength seems gone.

It's not wishful thinking. It's real. I have drawn on God's power when my own had run out, and you can do it too. Life is too hard without it.

God has promised to help you get back up, and if you hold him to that promise, you'll learn, as I did, that he will.

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