Praise Through the Struggle: When Life Has You Stuck

The weather is finally starting to turn more favorable. But here in central Virginia, it's toying with our emotions—30 degrees one day, 80 the next. Back and forth we go.

On one particularly nice day, I was driving through town and found myself stuck in a long line of cars, waiting for a train to pass. While I sat there, I noticed four people over at the local playground.

That’s not uncommon for this time of year. But what caught my eye wasn’t who was there—it was what they were doing.

A little girl was stuck in a swing.

She looked a bit too big for one of those toddler swings with the leg holes, and sure enough, she couldn’t get out.

But instead of panicking, the two women with her—mothers, aunts, babysitters, maybe?—were laughing. Not at the girl, but at the situation.

They calmly got to work. One woman held the swing steady, the other tried lifting the girl out.

The girl pulled on the chains. They tried lifting her legs, pushing her arms, tilting the swing—everything. Nothing worked. She was stuck.

I almost rolled down my window to offer help, but just then, they finally found the right angle—and pop!—the girl was free.

And do you know what happened next? More laughter.

The two women, the little girl, and even the other child with them all burst out laughing. What could have been a scary, embarrassing moment became a comical, maybe even joyful, one.

There are so many directions we could take with this story, but today, I want to focus on one simple truth: sometimes, we all feel stuck.

We can feel trapped by life’s circumstances—helpless, powerless, and completely alone. We might even think no one sees us or hears our cries for help.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

The Bible is full of reminders that God is near. He sees us. He hears us. He strengthens us.

One verse that comes to mind is Isaiah 41:10:


"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Not every stuck moment ends in laughter. Some are painful. Some feel endless. But every one of them can lead us to faith—faith in the One who is always there.

There’s a popular worship song right now called Praise. One of the lines says:
 "I'll praise when I feel it, and I'll praise when I don’t.
 I'll praise 'cause I know You're still in control."

Even when we don’t feel like praising—because we’re stuck, because we’re discouraged—we can still choose to praise. Not because everything is perfect, but because God is still good.

As we move closer to Easter Sunday, let Isaiah’s words and this song remind you of a simple truth:
 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. (Psalm 150:6)

Anyway, I was just thinking…