When Life is Hard and Trusting God Even Harder

I hope you have been enjoying the Summer Sizzle Blog Hop as much as I have! Did you know that all the posts from all 9 blogs can be found on Pinterest? We’ve created a Pinterest Board where there will be, in total, 72 Best Posts on everything in Christian Living! Find that link HERE!

Today I am thrilled to share with you my sweet friend, Dawn from Above the Waves. This highly organized lady is my hero! In the most gentlest of ways, she inspires me to a higher level of efficiency and organization! Her heart is pure and she loves with arms wide open.  I am blessed to call her friend. Her topic today isn’t an easy one. It’s about trusting God when life is hard. If you are anything like most of us, the urge to take control rears its ugly head in the most vociferous of ways when things get difficult. But trusting God takes letting go of control. I pray that if today your heart is hurting in the hard places of life and you are finding it hard to trust God, He meet you here in these words and give you peace and hope.

Today, I’ve got all kinds of pressing matters upon me, things like pulling the dryer out from the wall to sweep behind and scrubbing the bricks around the fireplace. Rearrange the pictures on the walls?  Yes. Suddenly the arrangement they’ve been in really bothers me.

But sit down and write?   I want to.  I really do, but these words are not easy. 

Today’s topic is about trusting God when it really hurts.  I tend to shy away from pain, both my own and other people’s. Jesus didn’t shy away from pain though, so tough as it is, by His grace, neither will I.

I won’t pretend to have this all figured out.  I don’t want to give you cliché answers.  Maybe you’re experiencing deep pain right now.  I want you to know that I care, that God cares, and that he hurts with you.  God is trustworthy- he is completely sovereign, he is infinite in wisdom, and he is perfect in love.  The Holy Spirit is the one who changes our hearts, who helps us to take this knowledge, from something we acknowledge with our minds, to a deeper understanding that we possess with our hearts.

Sometimes the pain is so deep, the evil so bitter, we have a hard time seeing where God is. 

What then?

Honor your pain.  Don’t ignore it or try to numb it.   Though well intentioned, when we try to comfort a grieving person by telling them that the pain will go away, we can unintentionally hurt them more.  Pain has a purpose.  Philip Yancey gave a speech to a group of students at Virginia Tech in 2007, after the horrific shooting that occurred there, taking 33 lives.  He said this,

“I point to the pain you feel, and will continue to feel, as a sign of life and love. I’m wearing a neck brace because I broke my neck in an auto accident. For the first few hours as I lay strapped to a body board, medical workers refused to give me pain medication because they needed my response. The doctor kept probing, moving my limbs, asking, “Does this hurt? Do you feel that?” The correct answer, the answer both he and I desperately wanted, was, “Yes. It hurts. I can feel buy nolvadex or clomid it.” Each sensation gave proof that my spinal cord had not been severed. Pain offered proof of life, of connection—a sign that my body remained whole.”

God does not cause pain, but sometimes he allows it, and he has promised, that for those who love him, he will redeem it (Romans 5:3).

So where is God in our pain?

He’s with us, and he uses his people, his church to be his hands and feet, to offer comfort.  Seek out community in your pain.  We are not meant to be alone.

Finally, bring your pain to God through prayer.  You might be angry.  He can take it.  You might not understand.  You don’t have to.  Trust in the one who loves you perfectly.  Jesus endured the most incredible pain imaginable, willingly, in his love for you.  He showed us through his example that he has compassion on those who are hurting.

I’ll leave you with this.  Pain is a part of life for now.  It won’t always be like this.  Trust that what John writes is true:

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” -Revelation 21:4

Dawn is a freelance writer and Christian blogger who loves encouraging women to keep their focus on Jesus.  She’s the author of Look to Jesus:  How to Let Go of Worry and Trust God.  She’s a wife and mom to two teens.  A Seattle girl, she loves books and coffee. You can find her at Above the Waves,  and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Wait! Have you missed any of the Summer Sizzle Blog Hop Series Posts? If so, you can find those HERE!

And how about the most popular posts from the #ChosenandWorthy Series? Those are right HERE !

Hope is at the heartbeat of living victorious lives. Without hope, what do we have? But to hold onto that hope, there are some things we have to embrace like our identity in Christ, the power of gratitude, a positive thought life, prayer, and the Word of God. Would you like extra encouragement to keep you focused on the right things? The things that will keep your hope alive?

#MomentsofHope Link-Up

Last, but definitely not least, thank you for joining me here each week to share the hope given to us through Christ. Whether your words come from a story that points to the full healing you have experienced in Christ, or its a story of the journey along the road to the healing you know He is working in you, it is giving hope to others. Your words matter and it honors me to have you share them here in this space!

What I ask of you:

1. Share up to 2 blogpost URLs resonating with the topic of HOPE. That which gives us hope for tomorrow and hope for victory. The little things and the big that inspire us to lean into Jesus and let Him carry us through.

2.#MomentsofHope is a place to give and get hope, so let’s encourage others in their efforts to share the hope of Jesus. If you have time, stop by more than one sweet writer’s little corner of the blog world!

1. Please either grab the #MomentsofHope button found here or link back to me. If you’ve been featured, grab your button here!

Finally, find me linking up with these encouraging places!