the struggle

life can suck sometimes hey? some stages of life, some life events that come flying your direction, they can be super duper tough. there is a whoooole lot of grey to deal with in this lovely world of ours. and sometimes it seems like our God is a God of only blacks and whites, absolute principles and truths, so when we're barraged with the grey, we don't even know what to do.

i was talking to someone yesterday about a particular grey area in my life, something not specifically touched on in Scripture and about which i was feeling incredibly conflicted. she told me something that totally blew my mind.

she told me of some advice she'd received while in a similar situation of overwhelming grey, that she wanted to pass on to me.

what was this great advice?: "just struggle with it."

she echoed the thoughts in my own head as she told me her initial response was also: "seriously? what crappy advice." but she got some supplemental explanation which is very worth sharing.

she was told to think of working out. there's a point in the working out process where you are exhausted, your muscles are burning to the point where you think you'll collapse and you really really want to give up, just for the relief. but the next day, when you go to work out again, you realize it's just a little easier than it was yesterday...

essentially if you don't experience pain, if you don't experience struggle, you don't grow, you don't get stronger.

God allows people to struggle, in ways that push them very close to the breaking point. But if you look back on your life, you may notice that your breaking point since the beginning of your journey with God is a lot farther along than it used to be.

for example, in the context of school: it might only take one essay due tomorrow to stress the socks off of a first year student... but a fourth year student, who's had university experience and written many more essays... it might take them 4 essays, a lab and memorizing all the infinitive German verbs imaginable- due tomorrow- to make them a stress case.

my friend then told me that we can be thankful (yes, thankful) for our struggles because, like any good fitness trainer would, God is challenging us and making us stronger for the next task that lies ahead.

so be encouraged my friends, all 5 of you who read this :P ... God doesn't give you struggles cuz He's a jerk. Struggling is not a very pleasant process, but He promises to always be with us. We are never alone and if we trust in Him, our struggles will never defeat us. He doesn't give us more than we can handle with His help. In essence, God wins. always. and in the meantime, He blesses us with strength through our trials so that we can conquer something even greater than...

fill in your blank here.