The roadmap of my life has been very difficult at times. I have experienced things I never thought I would. I have done things I never thought I would do, and I don’t mean this in a bad sense. And saw some things I never imagined I would. When people ask how I know Christianity is the real deal. My answer usually is, I know that if God were not real and working in my life, I would not be living. In my book, Why the Wait, I explain how I became a Christian in much detail. But the reality is, I am not the only person who has experienced much difficulty in life. We all have various degrees of hardship and things we are facing.
If it was up to us, let’s be real, we would never go through anything difficult. Life would be easy, a smooth ride, everything working out the way we want it to. But in truth, life is full of twists and turns with things we didn’t think we would face, suddenly happening. Almost overnight, the roads we never thought we would cross, we’re swiftly racing down them. With the “unknown” going before us.
When facing all of the above, it’s very difficult not to lose sight of where God is. These seasons in our lives can seem never-ending at times. Deadlocked even, in desperate places with seemingly no hope for change. When I became a Christian, I viewed my relationship with Christ as an escape from the difficulties of life. I thought that because I was a Christian, things should always be working in my favor and as long as I prayed and brought every situation I was facing to Christ, it would just all work out the way I felt it should. Shortly after, I entered a very difficult period at my job. I had a schedule where I worked every weekend and being a new believer, I began to try and alter my schedule, so that I could attend church. This did not go over well with the management and soon after I was let go from my position. I remember feeling so shocked and questioning God as to why the situation worked out this way. I mean, after all, I simply wanted to go to church and now I lost my job? Looking back that situation seems so small compared to what I would face. Years in and out of hospitals including dealing with a rare form of cancer, unemployment, multiple moves fighting school districts, sick kids, family members dying, the difficulty of single parenting, etc. I realized being a Christian doesn’t spare you from the difficulty of life. In fact, we read in James 1:2-4, NKJV. That we ought not to think it strange when we go through difficulty. But although we read this, it is so hard to accept. Instead, we are shocked like I was with my job situation and almost accusatory at times, often asking God why does He allow us to go through such things?
We live in a world plagued by sin. The outflow of this fallen world is all that we see and experience. If God were to just make every situation just work out the way we want, there would be no need for faith, trust, grace, etc some of the building blocks of our relationship with God. And in fact, the all-powerful God would be very limited and powerless. Without faith, it would be impossible to believe God to turn your deadlocked situation around. Bring healing to your body, hope to your family, and restoration to your broken heart. You see, Satan, the very enemy of our soul, tries to downplay and destroy who God really is by constantly pointing out and replaying to us what we perceive as God not doing! We hear in our ears, if God was real why did he let my family member pass? Why didn’t he just drop money in my path so I wouldn’t be in this financial crisis? Why doesn’t He just heal my body? Why isn’t He bringing me a spouse, doesn’t he see that I’m lonely? As these words penetrate our hearts, they sow seeds of unbelief, the greatest weapon against faith. When in fact, nothing happens that is not seen by the watchful eye of the Creator. As we allow God access into our lives, He is able to move in our situation, according to His will.
The God we serve is able to move above all we can even think or ask. Eph 4:40, NKJV. But the activation of our faith gives us access to this. So what does that mean for you? It means in your most difficult moment know that God is in control and He will walk you through these seasons in your life!