When Life Gets Tough

The morning arrives as I sit on my bed with my thoughts. Not always a good place for me to be; alone with my thoughts. In reality, I do have a lot to think about, to process, life is tough. Sometimes I wonder where the strength comes from, it’s certainly not my own, if it were I would have given up a long time ago. But I have to believe there is someone greater then I am, someone who watches over us, especially in the storm, especially in the tough times.

I feel I have to reiterate some of the storms that we have encountered and are still experiencing to this present day. I don’t share this for no other reason then to encourage those who are experiencing their own tough times and to show us just how resilient we really are. Even in times when we think we are going to crumble beneath the load. “We can do ALL things through Him who strengthens us.” And that is the extent of my preaching, enough said, that verse from Philippians 4:13 says it all.

The morning began with me feeling totally exhausted, not just tired but exhausted. Life has certainly sucked every ounce of energy from my body it seems. And it seemed that there was no amount of sleep that could alleviate my exhaustion. Then to add “insult to injury”, I started to scroll down through Facebook, big mistake in the best of times. Facebook can be a blessing at times but then it can also be a curse. And this morning it lead me down a path that I should not have taken. Not that I am envious or jealous but all I saw were everyone enjoying summer, travelling, leisure, relaxing, etc. Really the way summer should be. But I wasn’t feeling it. How could I when we were experiencing the complete opposite? And no I am not throwing a ‘pity party’, I am saying it like it is, it’s our reality. We have experienced more sickness, uncertainty, struggles and hardships then I care to remember. I have certainly been forced to look to God to try and make sense of it all, to find the purpose. And believe you me, I had to look deep. Trying to find the light in the darkness, the calm in the storm. In my human thinking I could make no sense of anything. Why was Lauren born with Cerebral Palsy? Why did I have to struggle every day with a depressive disorder? Why did Lisa have to endure four life threatening experiences? Why did life have to be so tough? Why? Why? Why?

The whys are just too many today and there are going to be days like that for all of us I’m sure. In my finite mind and my mortal being I will probably never know all the answers to life’s whys. The song says, “We’ll talk it over in the by and by. I’ll ask the reasons, He’ll tell me why, when we talk it over in the by and by.”

So I guess I will trust and wait. 1 Cor. 15:53 “For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.” So on that day when Christ returns, we shall be changed and then I won’t need to ask the reason why, this mortal will become immortal and we shall be like Him. So if you have questions that you have no answers to, trust that He knows and we will to on His return. 1 Thess. 4:16-17 “For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. What an amazing hope that we have.

I said I wasn’t going to preach and I am not really, I am not a preacher. I am someone who finds much hope, peace and encouragement in the promises of Jesus. It is what gives me the strength to go on; even when life gets tough.