Life can cause us to feel stuck

Seemingly out of nowhere, he popped out of the woods, less than 75 feet from me.

My heart rate suddenly increased. This was not cool. This was not Yogi.

Those were a few of the words that I left you with in my last article relating to my bear encounter of nearly 20 years ago.

When one encounters a bear at a zoo or wildlife park, there is rarely a sense of danger. The bears (at least from my experience) seem docile and even friendly. People are much braver than perhaps they otherwise would be — perhaps evaen doing something a bit dangerous, like climbing over barriers or poking their fingers through the cage.

But when one meets a bear in the wild, it is a much different story.

As I came face to face with that large Maine black bear, not only did my heart rate increase, but my mind began churning. As I had mentioned in the last article, I did have a backpack with me, but it included very little that could help fend off a bear attack.

However, I did have some sandwiches in my bag.

I quickly thought of what to do if the bear came my way. Somewhere, I had heard that you punch them in the nose if they are close enough. I also had heard that you try and become larger and noisier than normal.

But the thought that seemed to take precedence was one of me running away while throwing sandwiches behind me. Perhaps then the bear would stop and have my lunch and leave me alone.

Probably not the wisest thought that I ever had.

But as wild bears are prone to do, he looked at me for about 10 seconds, turned and ran lickety split as far away from me as possible.

As soon as I heard the crashing in the woods subside, I too made a quick exit back down the mountain.

But those 10 to 15 seconds of fear and anxiety were some of the worst that I have ever experienced. Not the worst … but it’s on the list.

One of the worst feelings in the world is that of feeling stuck in a situation.stuck in a scenario where the prospect of things getting better seems very small. We may look at the next five minutes, five hours or five days, and see nothing but the same tough things being repeated over and over and over.

Life can quickly feel like it will always be this way. Difficult. Tough. Beyond what we can bear. I recall a time when I desperately wanted to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But for a season all I could feel was the hopelessness of being stuck in a very dark middle, that place where the end can’t yet be seen.

Turn to God, some would say. But for many of us, turning to God feels a bit like trying to hug air. It’s hard to wrap our head around something that we can’t place our arms around.

And yet, as I have found myself in the very dark middle of life, I also have found myself discovering that Jesus is my Hope.

In the midst of struggles, God is there and He cares … I just have to acknowledge that reality.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (NIV)

Though our circumstances may not change today, our outlook can. We can turn to Him. We can see His glimmer of light; in the midst of the darkness.