God Is Our Comfort
Today I’m writing to you about struggle. No one is exempt from it. As a Christian, I am especially promised to suffer for Christ’s sake. Not only will I get through it, but I will come out stronger and better on the other side because I know I’m not alone.
Struggle can be….
Feeling lonely in a world full of people. Feeling alone while in a relationship. Working so hard everyday to earn and save money, just for your car to break down the very DAY you hit that savings goal. Struggle looks like losing, failing, falling. Struggle can be succeeding, only to find out it’s harder to stay on top than it is to get there. There is a multitude of faces it may behold — more than I could think to type. It can be mental struggle, emotional struggle, financial or physical. It covers all bases with a tight grip. But it is not final.
When you are going through it, it can be so hard to believe that things will ever get better — but they do and they WILL. Often times, it is a sign of the beginning of your breakthrough. We have to understand that nothing comes easy in this life. All good things require work. Whether you delight in that work or not is your choice.
Personally, one of my biggest struggles is trying to delight in the work when I’d rather just give up. But if I give up, I will never know what it feels like to come out on the other side. That in itself is something to be grateful for —the fact that there is always two sides to every coin. If things don’t turn out immediately how we want them to, that just means there is an opportunity to learn and grow at hand. Sure, you could call it failure. But its not about the fall, it’s how well you get back up. And getting back up is HARD, but that’s what makes it so rewarding in the end. So how do you get up then? For me, it’s all in trusting God, leaning on him, and believing in his power as greater than mine. If he is with me, then I can come back from anything.
An example I have is this:
When I was in high school, I went through a really rough time for a really long time. I was infatuated with my boyfriend at the time and couldn’t see past the life I desired with him. I thought we’d graduate, get married, have a baby (or four), and live happily ever after. Maybe I was too naive or watched way too many rom-coms, but when we broke up I was devastated. The feeling of being discarded ushered me into a downward spiral (as if my life wasn’t going that direction already). But though I was in the midst of spiraling, God saved me. I didn’t know it then but he was there the whole time feeling the pain I felt with me and crying ever tear I cried with me. Even though I couldn’t understand why it was happening, I still leaned on God and eventually got back up. Hindsight, I see that there were many reasons that relationship had to end, but that doesn’t make healing any easier. To this day, I have new revelations being uncovered to me about the situation. Sometimes that does cause me to mentally have to check out, or just breathe for a moment and truly process all the new information about the old situation. It can be painful to relive those moments in my mind and spirit. But I don’t let that hinder me from moving forward. I just take one more step each day and keep believing that God is who he says he is and what he says about me is true. I find comfort in the fact that his word says I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 39:14), that he would never leave me nor forsake me (Joshua 1:5), and that I belong to the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). I know that often our plans may not align with what God has in store for us, so it may seem that things are unfair or just don’t make any sense. But remember, God is faithful in all things. And you will abound in joy and peace if you stick with him.
All things come in due time —allow him to be your comfort and your strength through the struggle.
Much Love,
K.V.B.
