The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he was about to faint. He wanted to die. So he said, “I’d rather be dead than alive.”
Jonah 4:8
S elf-pity says, “I can’t do this.” It says, “This is too hard.” Self-pity takes God off of the throne and puts you and your self-interests in his place. And self-pity makes decisions based on feelings instead of faith. This isn’t an acceptable way of thinking for the God Girl. God wants you to decide the worth of your life based not on your circumstances but on his faithfulness. You can be sure that nothing can get you out of his hands, and so whatever happens to you or around you won’t be the end of you, any more than it’s the end of God.
As a God Girl you can’t allow a hint of self-pity to get you off track from trusting the truth that God has everything under control. No challenge, no situation, no pain, no calling is too difficult for you to get over and through in faith instead of fear and self-pity. But no one finds God’s glory till they stop staring at their miserable life. When negative thoughts start to creep in, your mind starts to whine and complain, and you tell God, “I can’t do this,” just remember that he made you able to do it. You can and you have to. So instead of saying, “I can’t do it,” say, “Why not? Why shouldn’t I suffer, since suffering is here to make me more like Jesus?” (see Phil. 3:10).
When you feel self-pity you start to think of yourself as a freak, a girl whose life just can’t be fixed, but that’s never true of the God Girl. God can use anything for good (see Rom. 8:28). You can survive anything, and if you trust God, you can grow and be happy even in the midst of suffering and trials.