Pressed, but not crushed

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 · ESV

God, I am afflicted, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. Perplexed, because I cannot see how this resolves. Struck down more than once this year. But You put a "but not" after every one of those, and I am holding on to it. Not crushed. Not in despair. Not forsaken. Not destroyed. Say those words over me today, because I cannot always say them over myself. Keep me standing, and if I fall, get me up again. Amen.

One step: Write your own line of the verse: what is true and hard, then "but not," then what God will not allow. Put it where you will see it every morning this week.