Sometimes life is hard. Not impossible. Not devastating or horrific. Just hard.
And when life is hard, I’m not tempted to walk away from God. I’ve never been tempted to write God off or shake my fist at Him in anger. My protest is a softer one.
I pretend the hard thing doesn’t matter.
I pretend that it doesn’t bother me. And sometimes I realize days – maybe even weeks or months – have gone by and I haven’t really prayed about the hard thing. I might have fleeting conversations with God about it, but I haven’t sat down with Him to really wrestle it out.
It’s one thing to surrender a hard thing to God, turning it over to Him, believing He’ll work it out for my good. But it’s another thing to avoid the proverbial elephant in the room, thinking that if I simply don’t acknowledge it, life will just go on. The days will pass and eventually the hard thing won’t even matter anymore.
I know better than that.
I know that God knows my heart and knows all about my life – including the hard parts. And I know (silly me) that God has a purpose and a plan to do me good in the end. He’s using the hard things to show me how He is sufficient, He is trustworthy, He is kind.
He never promised a soft life. Abraham had to wait. David was pursued by enemies. Job had everything taken from him. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. Sharon has a hard thing (not impossible, not devastating, not horrific, just hard).
The hard things in our lives DO matter. They matter to God. And so today, God and I will talk about mine. Even just writing that made me smile. I’m looking forward to not pretending today. And I think God is looking forward to that too.
My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22
…that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end… Deuteronomy 8:16
For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. 2 Corinthians 4:17
Anticipatience 