Having a bad day? A bad week, or even a year? Do not be defeated.
Adversity stinks. Period. Nobody wants to constantly be in strife. It would be nice if everything were peachy all the time. The only problem with that is we would lose appreciation for the “peachiness”. Adversity has a way of making you appreciate the great things in your life.
A particular Bible passage comes to mind. It is found in Romans 5:3-5. “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (ESV)
Do these verses mean that I should be jumping up and down with excitement over struggles? Uh…no. If you can do that, you let me know how. What I take from these verses is that while I definitely will not want to be going through whatever it is, I can appreciate that I’m going to learn patience, grow in character and have hope in Christ no matter what the struggle. I can take great comfort in the fact, (yes, fact) that God loves me. He wants to see me overcome.
And He promises that we will overcome, through Him. Romans 8:35-39 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are MORE THAN conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Emphasis mine) How awesome is that!? We are encouraged in Christ knowing that, through Him, we have the victory.
So, if it’s something as trivial as someone cutting you off while driving or as serious as going through a divorce, you can and will overcome with Christ’s help. Just rely on Him and don’t give up.
