A lot of situations in life are hard. But when we’re called to do something important, we have to find encouragement to keep going.
Candace Cameron Bure told author Bianca Juarez in an episode of her podcast, “The transition [to motherhood] was quite difficult for me, having kids in my early 20s and again having an entire career before kids. So I often didn’t feel like what I was doing as a mom was valuable and enough, even though I wanted to be there for my kids and be their mom.”
Juarez shared that it’s okay to feel things like Bure did. However, it’s important to walk through them and not let them control a situation.
“You can quit — just not today…Push through and persevere,” she said.
Christian author Cindi McMenamin says people go through hard situations because God wants to shape character, build a relationship and help grow fruit out of reliance on His strength.
“God knows that when our lives are easy, we tend to think we don’t need Him. And we certainly don’t cling to Him. But when we suffer, we become more dependent on God,” she wrote.
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He wants His children to bring Him their feelings and their struggles. He also wants them to allow Him to help them.
“Our sorrows and suffering help us relate to the sufferings of Jesus. Hard things deepen our relationship with the Living God,” she explained.
Toronto pastor Darryl Dash points out how athletes only improve after lots of practice, strength-building and conditioning. In the same way, we are refined in our relationship with God through our trials.
“Like farmers, we must work hard, even when we have nothing at first to show for our hard work, and the results involve uncertainty and waiting,” he said. “…Our faithfulness, even in hard things, matters.”
God is still at work even when things are hard and when times seem dark. He will still keep his promises.
Dash continued, “Don’t base your ministry or life decisions on what looks easy. Follow Jesus even when it gets hard. When you signed up to follow Jesus, you signed up to suffer. And it’s worth it.”
“Hang in there. God is faithful. He’s at work. He will give us everything we need to suffer as part of the normal Christian life.”
In the Psalms, the authors pour out all of their feelings to God. God made us to feel, and that’s okay. But don’t give up on things He’s called you to do.
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