Sometime ago, I was reflecting on the past several years of hard changes and numerous personal losses. It came to me while sitting in a women’s conference at my local church listening to dear young woman share her story of tragedy that God does equip us to do hard things.
God Gives Us Grace And Strength
As I listened to her talk about how God had faithfully worked in her life in the aftermath of deep, personal pain. She said something even more remarkable. “My friends have encouraged me to do hard things.”
God Is With Us
I was taken aback but I paid close attention to what she said next, “I realized even though I was grieving and still hurting, I could do hard things…because God is with me.” Thus, this single event became my mission to study and dig deeply into God’s Word to solidify this biblical principle for myself…because I too, felt like we had been through enough hard things to last a lifetime which left me feeling weary and worn out.
God Gives Us Courage
The deeper I delved into this whole promise from God “to be with us,” I began to heal and grow stronger spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
My hope is that my new book, Brave Faith for Hard Things – Sacred Purpose in Ordinary Suffering, will help bring hope and healing to you as well.
We can do hard things because God is with us.
When I heard this telling statement from a dear woman whom I had personally witnessed
to have gone through a series of unrelenting trials and severe suffering for the past five years, I
took note. Her words were simple, straightforward and hit their mark squarely within my heart.
“My friends have been encouraging me to do hard things because God has promised to be with
me.”
My initial gut reaction to this proclamation was – what? This poor gal has been through so
much already and now her friends are encouraging her to do hard things. The entirety of her
present life has been overrun by hard things. At first, I didn’t know if I believed her friends were
being insensitive or simply ignorant of what she had already endured.
As I later contemplated my friend’s remark, something deep within me shifted. I then
started to understand the wisdom of this statement and why her good friends might suggest it.
Every single one of us is up against “hard things” in our lives. Not a one of us is or ever will be
exempt.
Which is why gaining a biblical understanding of how doing hard things equips us to
face down even the most difficult and trying circumstances and seasons makes sense. That is, it
makes sense if you are a Christian who has placed his trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ
who promises to make all things new.
As I considered this faithful believer’s comments about doing hard things it became clear
to me that I should be thinking (and doing) the same. Over and over, I continued to revisit this
specific pronouncement (statement) of faith and how she was purposing to step out one act of
courage at a time. I realized that she was determined to not allow her recent losses to render her
ineffective in serving Christ. Nor was she willing to sit endlessly in her grief paralyzed by her
sorrow.
Instead, I had the privilege to observe her over the following weeks and months as I
watched her make choices that were indeed hard for her. She took God at His word and she
repeatedly stepped out in faith trusting that God would be with her every step of the way. And to
hear her retell her stories, God was with her every moment of every day. Even on those
especially scary days when she knew that unless God upheld and strengthened her, she would not
succeed, God was there providing grace, strength, and courage to move forward.
Although it may seem counterintuitive to step out in faith during those difficult seasons
when we barely are keeping our heads above water, it actually is the perfect time to do so. How
so? It is in those vulnerable moments when we feel weary and utterly undone by the trials
surrounding us that we more clearly understand the truth.
We are not ever, in and of ourselves, able to cope with, face down, or handle these life-
altering events in our own strength. But during those moments of desperation in life, we come to
understand the full depth of our need for a Savior, a Sustainer, and a Supplier of our needs. Then,
and only then, do we cry out in abject humility and neediness to our gracious heavenly Father.
And He hears our cry and comes close. God is with us as we turn to face our hard things.
It was here that my friend discovered how God was building a new faith history in her
life. She recognized that even in the midst of her hardship and suffering, God was calling her to
trust Him, to lean on Him, and to follow Him wherever He called.
Like so many of the teachings of Jesus, we come to understand that God’s way of doing things is almost always in direct
opposition to our human way of thinking. It’s only when we learn to see with our spiritual eyes
and put the full weight of our trust in God that we begin to see that He moves in the supernatural
and that we can trust Him to do hard things…because God is with us.
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