During my time away a friend made a comment to me during the beginning of the long week that ringed in my heart the entire Fourth of July weekend.
Friday night while sitting by the lake under the stars, laughing and sharing stories about the good, bad and HARDSHIPS in life... the comment came...
"Heather you are very BLESSED."
This comment was even more powerful because it came from a person that barely knows me.
This was not a random sentence that got lost in between the many other words we shared that night. This sentence stayed with me all weekend long.
I AM BLESSED
HOWEVER, I have experienced HARDSHIPS in life that have dragged me around BUT my Savior always continued to drag me further into His heart, CREATING MY REAL FREEDOM!
Today I want to encourage and strengthen you to remain true to the Faith. We must go through hardships.
HARDSHIPS are "light and momentary troubles that are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2 Corinthians 4:17
When your going through difficulties in life they never seem light or momentary, but remember as we learn in today's reading in ACTS Chapter 14 that Paul is comparing our hardships with an eternal glory.
HARDSHIPS ARE UNAVOIDABLE BECAUSE:
1. God wants to GIVE US and TEACH us eternal victory by working His glory in a through our hard times
2. SATAN wants to bring us defeat by causing us to struggle and fall
3. Sin and disobedience can be a direct
result of hardships.
Hardships are unavoidable in this life because of the glorious nature of God and the hateful nature of Satan and the daily discipline of self.
I have experienced all three hardships and God always wanted to redirect my energy toward getting to know HIM and LOVE HIM through His word allowing me to be equipped for anything!
Hardships motivated me to redirect my focus from FEAR to FAITHFULNESS.
Our hearts can get very sore from hardships, but still be beating. You are ALIVE my friend and life is still strangely abundant.
Allow God to encourage you through the hardships. My personal hardships taught me how to RESPOND to the ACTIVITY of God. My hardships have brought me into a MORE BLESSED LIFE.
Satan is always wanting to create hardships, this weekend I was thankful for my freedom from past formal sin and reminded that I need to stay wise to avoid anything that would place me close enough to the vacuum to be sucked back in to self created hardships.
FREEDOM IS FOUND IN STAYING FAR AWAY FROM THE VACUUM THAT WANTS TO SUCK YOU BACK IN!
May God strengthen you today in your hardships and redirect your focus from fear of the trials to Faithfulness. I also encourage you to be WISE and know where the hardship is coming from.
BLESSINGS,
