When Life Gets Hard (Part 1)

Sometimes life hits hard. It crashes into a million little pieces before our very eyes.  Are you not sure what to do when life gets hard? When anxiety mounts?  When you feel like you can’t cope?To make it through, there is just one thing to grab hold of.  Not memorized words, not detailed theology, not empty promises, not fake words, not shallow prayers.    No, we need to let go of knowing what we feel we should do – and grab hold of knowing God.  Knowing in our heart, and not only our minds.

Knowing in our actions, and not only our words.  Knowing as we bare it all to him, and knowing he will come to our rescue.  Knowing we can be – because he sees.

 

Deeply knowing.

Humbling ourselves to his will.

Letting him embrace us.

Falling in his arms.

Sharing in his suffering.

Relying on his truth.

Praising him as he shows up.

Proclaiming his beauty as he provides.

Seeking him with all we have. Because often life comes at us like a car speeding into a head-on collision.  Life crashes before our very eyes and all we see are the million little pieces around us.  Life hurts. We ache.  We cry. We need. I don’t know what you need today, but we all need. We desperately need.  We need to be filled – with money, with love, with acceptance, with words of encouragement, with a boss who cares, with good health, with peace, with healing.

We travel far and wide – to various gas stations of need. We think we can fill up there.  We look the to the wrong people, in the wrong way.  But, this gas provides doesn’t provide us the energy we seek, in fact, it actually zaps us of energy. It robs us of strength. 

It sends us astray.
We get filled up, but with the wrong source of power.
Then, our cars run on empty.We run – but we are almost dying – and we lose steam.The point is – life can hurt.  Situations can stun.  Circumstances can feel like they will break-us-down. If you believe that being a Christ follower is a bag of roses, chocolate and blessings – you have been sold a lie.  We don’t always get the easy road in life.

But, what we do get is a bag of promises that will always endure, will never fail, will lift us up, will comfort us, will help us to thrive – and will be our drive.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

Here is the truth my brothers and sisters  – We may feel like life is crashing before us, but that’s ok.  Sound ridiculous?  Maybe.  But it’s not – because we see by faith and not by sight.

What we see are little pieces of ruin, but what God sees is broken fragments of what he wants to create anew.  What we see are shards of glass, but what God sees are hopes and dreams that he has ready to bring to fruition as he puts the pieces back together.

What we see is pain, but what he sees is our gain as we trust him by faith.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. (2 Cor. 4:17)

Sometimes, we’re broken so that we can be remade.  We can’t see it in the moment, but in the aftermath all the little pieces come together to form something so beautiful it takes us to places we never dreamed or imagined we could go.

Stay tuned for Part II where you will receive the ultimate words of encouragement for when life gets hard.  Oh, how I can’t wait to share them with you.

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