You know, at times when the going gets tough, we all get tempted to go, "Poor me". I've done it countless times. Thinking, "Hey, I'm a Christ-follower. I'm really serving you God. Shouldn't I get a cookie, or a merit badge, or some kind of spiritual respect for my contribution to Your overall greatness...God?"
Having said that, I had a great, productive day, but I was just reading something that reminded me that not every day feels (or goes) that way. And we can get down sometimes thinking that maybe we got sent to the end of the line where the "good stuff" gets passed out. Ever felt that way? Feel that way now? It happens to all of us.
Check this out. It'll blow you up a little bit. It did me. God is so cool, I mean, really. All you leader-types who are wrestling with God's call on your life and wondering what it may cost to really serve Him (don't let your spouses read this, Ha-ha-ha!). We are in good company, ya'll. I lifted it from an article by Matt Chandler. Listen to how he characterizes the "great success" of some well-known folks we read about in the Bible:
- Moses spends his whole life with grumbling whiners and dies without getting to walk into the promised land.
- Samson suicide bombs the Philistines and when the dust settles, he is dead, and the Philistines are still in power.
- Jeremiah ends up in exile, with the rest of the country, after being beaten repeatedly for telling people what God told him to say.
- John the Baptist is beheaded by a pervert who gives his head to a 15 year-old stripper.
- Peter is crucified upside-down.
- Paul is killed in Rome, after spending his life seeing people destroying what he built, all the while (among other things) being lost at sea, beaten, rejected, stoned, and left for dead.
If our hope is set on anything other than God, how do we survive when things go bad? If He is the goal, the treasure, the pursuit, then can we allow life-challenges, and life-speedbumps, and even life-head-on collisions to fuel our passion to press into the goodness of God and His awesome grace? We don't like it when things don't go our way, but isn't our faith is sustained when trials push us closer to God? What do you say?
Sound off. What do you do, when life comes at you too fast? What do you do when you are challenged beyond anything you thought you were prepared for? What keeps you going when nothing is going your way? What do YOU do?
Okay, if Im being honest...I usually whine about it first. Then I suck it up, put my big girl panties on and do whatever it takes to keep going. (I have learned this needs to be used especially in ministry.) God didnt say that we wouldnt have trials and bad times, He just says that He will be there to help us through them. SOOOO, I try to keep my focus on Jesus and what the word of God says and apply it to any situation thrown my way. Oh and a big tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream helps too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hollie! I guess not too many people want to play on this one. But I'll bet a weeks pay everyone struggles with it. Come on, Roadies, let's hear about it. What do YOU do?
ReplyDeleteI'm in tears. Really. I was trying to pass time, and I decided to check out your blog. And you wrote about the very thing that I've been struggling with. The past week and a half...okay, more like the past YEAR...has been THE toughest of my life. Seriously. I've gone through a lot of stuff in my years...getting sick, almost dieing, depression, etc. But this year has been the worst. I feel like an emotional trainwreck and I wonder why everything is so difficult. And yet...a couple minutes ago, I found something I lost. I found hunger for God. I'm talking "Randy Mitchell youth days" hunger. I've lost it along the way.
ReplyDeleteWhat do I do when things get bad? I cry and mope around and wonder why I, seemingly, keep getting the short end of the stick, when I should be focusing on God and remembering what He said...that His strength is made perfect in my weakness. "Where our strength ends, God's is just beginning." One of the best things I ever heard.
God already slapped me in the face once tonight, and your blog was a second one. Thanks! And I really didn't intend to write a book. Sometimes it just happens. :)
~Lisa Marie
Thanks Lisa, it's a privilege to hear your heart. I know what you mean about Randy Mitchell youth days hunger. How I'm only now beginning to really understand what he was talking about!
ReplyDeletemost of the time I just grin and bear it till it's over. thinking "it'll all be over soon"
ReplyDeletebut sometimes I get thrown a curveball at just the right time and I throw my hands to heaven and yell out "seriously! come on! a little help would be nice!"
then I sulk for a while.
that's not the case all the time but sometimes I can definitely whine like a hebrew, dude!