Problems

Life is good even when times are hard. It is easy to get discouraged when things tend to work against you. Your car breaks down or you struggle to make ends meet. Health issues arise and you have no clue on how you are going to pay for the medical bills that will accompany the Doctor visit. Often we let the stress of every day life bog us down and let it eat at us a piece at a time.

We let our circumstances blind us from what could be. What I mean is that we let our stress cloud our thoughts. We start drowning in self pity and let our troubles dictate our life. If you take a moment while you are in the midst of these troubles and really take a look. You'll see that some strange way there is a blessing in each struggle we face. When you think about it, we really have no control of anything. We like to think we do but we do not. For instance when you are sick you can't control how sick you are or what the Doctor is going to charge you for treatment.

You may ask what kind of blessing comes out of being sick? I'll tell you what I learned from watching my Mom go through a life of diabetes, 2 kidney transplants, and Cancer twice. Even though she was on the verge of dying multiple times and feeling horrible for months on end. She often spoke of all the blessings she received due to her illnesses. She used to speak of all the amazing people she met while at the hospital. All the bonds she made with people as she sat hooked up to a dialysis machine for hours at a time.

She gained an appreciation for life and the relationships we share in it. Through her trials she gained riches greater then gold and she wanted us(her children)to know about them. She would often quote Matthew 17:20 - for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. She moved many mountains in her life and I saw that verse lived out by her every day that she lived. Sure she has weaknesses like all of us. Yet she never let her troubles get the best of her. She often talked to me about how God provides no matter what circumstances we face.

The challenge for everyone is looking for those blessings in our troubles. It is hard to see straight when it seems the world is falling in all around you. You just got to take a moment and hit pause, pray and seek the Lord in the midst of the chaos. When you do this those blessings seem to pop up everywhere. Sure you still are burdened by whatever trial you are in. However there is less burden when you finally see the blessings that are mingled in within that trial. So I encourage you all who face trials to pause,pray, and seek the Lord so that each trial you face becomes not a burden but a blessing.