“When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place.” Psalm 118:5

We were married seven years and had three children under five, when my husband became ill. He woke up from a nap paralyzed. The next two and half years became our training ground for trusting God. Chronic Progressive Multiple Sclerosis was the diagnosis, and he was hospitalized about every six weeks for those years. Our prayers went unanswered and his condition worsened. We were hard pressed, indeed, and it was in this season I spent months crying out to God. I searched His Word for truth and I trusted in what I could not see.

Though our days were full of doctor appointments, medication, and hospital visits, we also had peace. The Lord became my hiding place as I poured out my heart and imagined I was resting in a spacious place with God. A place of peace and no suffering. God strengthen me in those days.

This wasn’t our first trial, as we had experienced the miraculous recovery of our youngest son. I went into preterm labor with him and spent six weeks on bed rest. He was diagnosed with many maladies, yet he was born completely healthy and a whopping nine pounds at 37 weeks gestation. When my husband became ill two months later, I remembered the faithfulness of God and how He rescued our son.

Unrealistic expectations, endless deadlines, relentless pressure, and unanswered prayer leave us feeling trapped. Why is it distress feels tight? We feel suffocated, penned in, up against a wall, with no escape. Fleeing seems like the perfect solution. How do we get out of these tight spots?

The answer is to call upon God. When we take our deepest distress to God, He brings us to a place of freedom. A spacious place where we pass from distress to delight This place where we realize He is mighty and we are small. He is capable, ever present and working on our behalf. He hasn’t abandoned us or asked us to find the solution; He simply wanting us to rely on Him and not our own strength. God wants our trust.