"Between a rock and a hard place ..."

"Swimming upstream without a paddle ..."

"I am at rock bottom ..."

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong ..."

"You look like you have just lost your last friend ..."

Can you think of other trite sayings that describe the never-ending pain and day-to-day challenges of life? How many times have you uttered these words or heard these words spoken by someone who was at the end of his or her rope?

There's another piece of trite for you ... I am at the end of my rope. How could we forget that one?

Let me communicate a word of encouragement that may border on the verge of "trite" ... "Life is hard, but God is oh so good!"

Sometimes there is more "true" in "trite" than you can imagine.

Even Jesus was on the brink of pedantic when He reminded us all, "In the world you will have trouble."

But do you remember what Jesus said after those troubling words? I imagine that He had a grin on His face and a twinkle in His eye when He exclaimed to his discouraged band of brothers, "But, cheer up! I have overcome the world!"

Can't you just see Him, raising His fist in the air and nearly jumping for joy?

The words of Jesus ricochet through the ages and have the power to subtract the doom from any situation that a believer may face.

"Cheer up, sister. Cheer up, brother. Jesus has overcome the world!"

You see ... no matter what prophets of doom may declare and no matter how excruciating this world may become, we have a Savior who is more than able to protect, to intervene and to lead. We have a Savior.

We serve a Lord whose name is Jesus and who has experienced a victory so eternally complete that even the demons of hell scream in uninterrupted pain.

The God of angel armies is the God of you and the God of me. He knows the reality of hard places and He knows how to get you beyond those particular places of pain.

He knows.

We serve a God who has never lost a battle yet and He is fighting for you when you are at the end of your rope. Let me just remind you that when you have no paddle, He is your strength and your sure direction.

No matter what is happening in the world of politics, no matter whom terrorists are terrorizing, no matter how flat the economy falls—the Rock of our Salvation is a strong and mighty tower.

So, let's just rearrange trite and have it line up with the Word of God. How do these revolutionized phrases now sound to you?

"I am living between the Rock and the grace place!"

"I am swimming in His stream of worship, and the strength is undeniable!"

"I am resting on the Rock of my salvation!"

"Anything that goes wrong in my life will be miraculously changed to good because I have a good, good Father who is working behind the scenes of my life to work all things together for my good!"

"I have a Friend who sticks closer than a brother. He has promised never to leave me or forsake me."

"Jesus is at the end of my rope. There is no place that I would rather be than at the end of me and at the beginning of Him."

The words of Jesus are not empty nor or they powerless. The explosive nature and power of God are discovered when a believer believes that what Jesus declared is truth indeed!

I believe that God is good!

I believe, like Corrie ten Boom, that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.

I believe that God has been to my future and that it is a good future because He has been there.

This believer should always believe that there is no such thing as "living between that infamous rock and that horrible hard place." 

This believer defiantly believes that there is only strength, joy and peace to be discovered in all of life's situations.

What pieces of "trite" have deceived you? Come back to a place of truth and find your encouragement in the words and truth of Jesus.

Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. She has written five books, including No More Ordinary, Holy Estrogen!, The Rooms of a Woman's Heart and Defiant Joy! Her most recent book, Refined: Finding Joy in the Midst of the Fire, was released on Aug. 1. Her teaching DVD The Rooms of a Woman's Heart won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming.

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