Sheryl Brady - Replenishing Your Emotional Reserves

I’m so grateful today for the strength of the Lord. His strength is always made perfect in our weakness. He is an amazing God! Right where you are at right now, why don’t you just lift up your hands and tell Him, «Lord, I need Your strength in my life»? The Bible tells us that He is a very present help in times of trouble. Once again, I am preaching and teaching today in an empty sanctuary, and I miss you like crazy, but I want you to be safe. I am grateful that we have the ability to connect as we are connecting. I want to ask you to get your Bibles, your notebooks, and your pens, because today I want to bring you something that I feel is very important and relevant for where we are. I want to encourage you to write today. Whether it’s on your iPad or if you actually pick up a pen like I do, something about writing helps you connect in a deeper way.

Today, I’m going to take you into the Word of God, and I want to just talk to you about replenishing your emotional reserves. The side effects of COVID-19 have created a lot of stress in the lives of people, and long after this is over, I think we will still be dealing with the emotional, relational, financial, spiritual, and physical side effects of having our world turned upside down overnight. You all realize that it was pretty much overnight for those of us in America. People were already fighting with issues in their lives before this disease came on the scene, and now they are finding themselves battling with fear—not just the disease, but fear itself. They are grappling with indecisiveness; who can make decisions in the midst of circumstances changing every 10 to 15 minutes? People are struggling with how to cope with loss, with grief, and with the instability that all of this has produced in their lives. They are also wrestling with anger and habits they thought they had defeated, but which are resurfacing again. Yet today, I believe that God is going to help us, even those who might feel completely drained. Right where you are, I want you to know that a word is coming to you today.

Father, I thank You for Your word. I stand on Your word and believe it never fails us. I ask that You would capture us in this moment, and Lord, as I speak from here in this house, may it reach their houses and find every hearer: every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl. Speak, Lord, until they recognize Your voice. Have Your way here today, encourage Your people, and we will give You thanks for it in Jesus' name.

So, we’re all dealing with stress, that’s what I’m saying. We are all dealing with stress, and it’s important to remember that we don’t all have the same level of stress in our lives, nor do we all respond to stress in the same way. Somebody said the other day, «Well, we’re all in the same boat, ” but I want to beg to differ with you. We are not in the same boat. We are all in the same storm, but we’re not in the same boat. Some people are cruising through COVID-19 as if they are living on a yacht; everything is awesome in their lives. They’ve got a good place to live, their job is secure, their finances are stable, their shelves are stocked with food, and they are doing wonderfully. On the other hand, there are others who are really trying to navigate this storm in a rowboat. They’ve lost their jobs and don’t know where their next meal is coming from. People are lacking money, provision, and security, and some individuals are under so much stress that they are turning to alcohol, drugs, pornography, outrage, and anger, all in an attempt to cope with the fact that—within the last three months—our world has turned upside down.

Some of you came into this crisis already emotionally drained; some came in physically depleted. They talked about pre-existing conditions, which makes it even more difficult to contact this virus. Well, some of us entered this situation with pre-existing financial conditions, as well as spiritual conditions. Not all of us were at our best spiritually, and yet here we are, having to deal with this crisis. Some people entered COVID-19 with a warning light already flashing on the dashboard of their lives—a warning light that says you’re running on empty. You’re about to run out of fuel. Your reserves are depleted. We all came into this situation with somewhat of a reserve, but now that we’re in it, some people had greater reserves than others. Emotionally, some people were better prepared for this than others. And now that you find yourself in this for this period of time, you might feel like you’ve hit empty and don’t see a filling station in sight, so now you feel stranded and vulnerable, sitting on the side of the road.