DESIRING GOD IN THESE TRIAL TIMES

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll;

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears” – Les Brown

Our world has changed, is changing and challenging. We live in a world that most times life is extremely challenging, making those that live in it feel as though there is no relief to the struggles that plague us at various stages in life. Every day we experience new addition and to gabble with it we have to change or adjust to living with it. As we go through life, it’s inevitable that all of us are going to experience some tough times, and that all of us are going to be hard one time or another, the most important thing about making through these difficult times is how we approach it. Difficult times tend to turn our worlds upside down and anything that is nailed down to the floor will go flying. “Every adversity brings new experiences and new lessons.”― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind.

We all heard that going through trials makes us stronger after the initial sting has faded into our consciousness. In order to handle difficulties, we need to go through tough times. This builds character, boldness, and allows us to help others. When you can’t reach the other side, we feel depleted needing respite for our souls. Author Napoleon Hill once said, “There is a seed in every trial or challenge. Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carry with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit.” Until we see the benefits, the pain seems futile. There is a greater advantage physically of tough seasons. Science is showing that taking on challenges stimulates cell growth in the brain. This helps us cope and build resilience.

People often reach out to social networks to help them during adversity. With this help, become stronger. Dr. Dennis Charney, a psychiatrist, said in an interview with Time, “Resilience training can help people deal effectively with chronic disease and improve their quality of life.” Kirsten Bradbury Ph.D. in Getting through Tough Times said, “Times of trouble are a part of life, and none of us escapes without experiencing moments of grief and sorrow, despair, and hopelessness. Whether it’s a traumatic loss, a serious illness, family conflict, or a financial downturn, sometimes life hands us a difficult stretch of road. Bouncing back from these experiences is what resiliency is all about, and it is clear that there are more and less effective ways to approach setbacks. When we are going through tough times, what we do matters.” “We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” – Barbara De Angelis.

Life is not always smooth sailing. The most courageous people are not those who always avoid hard times, but those who meet those challenges head-on and make it through, stronger and wiser than before. Often, we feel as though life’s problems are more than we can handle. It is through facing these problems and fighting through them that we develop courage—the courage to treat issues that may arise later in life. Courage is not an absence of fear or challenge. It is the perseverance in spite of doubt. You have two choices in life. You can face the challenges that are thrown your way, or you can hide from them. That being said, you can let the challenges consume you and destroy your life, or you can tackle them, knocking them out and not allowing them to stop you from achieving your goals. When you are the kind of person who dares to face all that life throws at you, you develop courage and strength. “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”—Christopher Robin to Pooh, A.A. Milne

“Hardships are opportunities for growth and learning. They deepen our understandings of ourselves, others, and the world around us. There are hidden blessings that come with virtually every hardship, such as strength, wisdom, empathy or openness to a deeper spiritual awareness.”- PsychCentral’s Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. shared. No matter where you are in the process, there is no easy way to get away from challenges and hard times. We can agree on that, its part of life.  I don’t know if they make us better people, but they make us stronger.

One thing common amongst all of us is we’ll experience difficult times in our lives. The degree of difficulty will vary; however, each experience will challenge us. Difficult times can come as: Losing a job, a business failure, a health issue, the death of a loved one, financial challenges, or a relationship breakdown. No matter how difficult things get, we can use those experiences to learn something and grow stronger.

According to Lolly Daskal, Lead From within: what we need to know and what do and what think when tough times hit us hard.

1. Keep things in perspective: Sometimes because we allow our problems to get too big, we grow fearful and become paralyzed from making decisions or from moving forward to make changes that will help our situation. Be careful not to let fear stop you from doing what you need to do. Acknowledge your fear and deal with it. Focus on what you can do and pay attention to doing daily small tasks. Just think of now, this moment and know that it’s okay to focus on now and nothing else the next thing will happen if you take small actions now.
2. Worry won’t make it better: Worry won’t make it better it won’t make easier, just because you’re afraid, doesn’t mean can’t be brave, just because it’s tough right now doesn’t mean you can’t be strong. Just because you think you might fail, doesn’t mean you will. Now is the time to look beyond your fears and self – doubt and keep moving beyond the worry, and face yourself and your deepest fears, now is the time to not give up. You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and twice as capable as you have ever imagined.
3. Experience will make you stronger: Experience is one of the most valuable commodities you can have. No one else has the same experiences as you, they are what makes you, you. Your experience builds strength in you and new experiences help you to grow. What makes us stronger makes us more confident in the future.
4. Keep positive thoughts in a negative mind.When things are hard and times are tough, you need to learn to protect your mind, you cannot allow your mind to spiral out of control and become all negative. If you’re not careful your negative thoughts can only lead you to even more negative places and so we must learn to protect our mind and startto think of things that are more positive. .
5. Life isn’t easy, but it is worth it:anything worth fighting for doesn’t come easy. Achieving anything worthwhile in life takes effort. We have to do better today than we did yesterday. Above all, we must always make sure that we are properly aligning our efforts with our goals and we are aligning our goals with our actions, this won’t be easy, but it will be definitely worth it.
6. This too shall pass. We have to remember, this situation will NOT last forever and it would be best to acknowledge that our hard times might seem really dark at the moment, but this will not last forever, what is most important to remember that we must pass through this to make it to the other side. This too shall pass. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”—Thomas Edison

But whatever the challenge is, determine to see things through as you find your strength in God. Your life might be hard, but God is good. According to Yvette Stupart on Finding Faith in difficult times, you can move from feeling like a victim of your circumstances to find purpose through your faith. She added, I have found the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 8: 35, 37 to be very encouraging in times of adversity: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Allow these verses to resonate in your heart and know that no matter how bad the situation you are facing is, you can experience God’s love, and nothing can separate you from it. You have reason to shout even in your dark place, for you have the love of God, and his Word that all things are possible with him.

The most effective way of coping during hard times:

Praying *Meditating on God’s Word *Thanksgiving and praising God *Building up my faith*Pursuing life balance *Taking care of myself *Building healthy connections and a support system * A combination of all the above

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV).  Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9, NIV).

In the face of adversity, spend time in prayer, and ask God to supply specific needs as he promises in his Word (Philippians 4:19) But there are principles for effective prayer. The late Kenneth Hagin outlines the following steps to praying with results.
1. Ask the Father in Jesus’ Name (John 16:23).
2. Pray in faith (Mark 11: 24). Believe that what you ask your Father for based on the promises in his Word, you have received.
3. Forgive others (Mark 11:25). Un-forgiveness can hinder your faith and block you from receiving what God has for you.
4. Pray in the Spirit (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit helps you in prayer. He is the Helper, so depend on him to enable you as you pray effectively.
When you ask God in faith to meet specific needs in your situation, there is no need to keep asking for the same thing. But move to thanking God that he heard and answered your prayer. “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is one who believes” (Mark 9:23, NIV). “Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, NIV).

God wants you to thank and praise him, not just in good times, but also when things get difficult. After all, he never changes, and his blessings are available in every situation you face. When you praise him, you recognize his goodness in all seasons. Andrew Wommack outlines three benefits when we praise and give thanks in adverse circumstances. Praise is beneficial because you:

Encourage yourself. You move from the difficulty of the situation, to see God’s love, power and faithfulness. You no longer see a hopeless situation, but that the power of God is that is able to change you and the situation. As you praise, you can be like David, who in hard times encouraged himself in the Lord (1 Samuel 30:6). Then you see, El Shaddai, the God Almighty of blessings, who nourishes, satisfies and sustains.

Drive out the enemy. The devil is behind much of the adverse situations that you experience. He is the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). He wants to hinder God’s plan for your life. As you give your praise to God, where it belongs, this drives off the enemy.

Please God. It delights God’s heart to see his child praising him even in difficult circumstances for this is showing your abiding trust and reliance on him. Praising God in difficult situations demonstrates your faith in God for “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).

Spend some time and take an inventory of God’s goodness in your life. Call to remembrance specific things he has done in your life and start thanking him. Think of whom he is; his divine qualities and start praising him. Let praise and thanksgiving flow from your heart, for God is good! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia.“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV). “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23, NIV).