Faith grows in a garden of hardships

I’ve always been impatient… Always in a hurry for the next thing to come. When Anthony and I were dating, I wanted to get married; when we got married, I wanted to know when we’d have children. I remember, though, a year or two before we dated, I was in a state of awe and wonder. I had just become a believer and had a hunger for learning about Christ. Not only that, but I would be filled with The Word daily and would praise and pray with passion. Nothing else mattered, only Jesus. I didn’t really care about the next step because the now was so beautiful. I am in no way saying that marriage and the actual present have been bad, on the contrary, they’ve been wonderful. What I am saying is that there was a time in my life when I wasn’t being hasty because I was focused on the provider of all things. Marriage has been full of evidence of God’s provision, but I must admit that getting used to change and a new normal have always been very challenging for me. So today I want to remember that time with hope, because God is still the same and it can happen again.

So, I encourage you, if you’re in a season of waiting, set your mind on the things above (Colossians 3:2). That time of waiting for me wasn’t as painful as the times when I didn’t have Christ. Things won’t be perfect or as we want them on this side of eternity. Trusting that God has a purpose, and a plan can be liberating. What he wants for us is much better than anything we could want for ourselves. In this season, He can be your strength and make you able to pull through. Maybe you are weary, and maybe you are tired of waiting. God wants to strengthen us.

Isaiah 40:31(NASB)

31 Yet those who [a]wait for the Lord Will gain new strength;They will [b]mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

Faith is all about hoping and waiting. It’s about being strengthened in difficulty, about enduring and persisting. Faith grows in a garden of hardships because we trust in the one who sustains us. He makes us able to walk and move in the middle of the scary places.  

Habakkuk 3:19 (NASB)

19 The Lord [a]God is my strength, And He has made my feet like deer’s feet, And has me walk on my high places.

A few tips on getting back to things above:

          Pray continually. If you can’t, just a word is enough… sometimes I find myself just saying “Jesus” or “Please help”. Knowing that He is merciful and full of grace. The Holy Spirit will understand what’s in your heart.

          Ask yourself “What does God say about this?” rather than “why?”. Ask Him directly if you need to, but always go to His Word first. There are many books and resources you can use, but the Word of God is the best place to go. If you don’t know where to start, you can search for bible verses online about what you might be going through. Bibles with concordances are good too.

          Praise through the wait. It might seem counterintuitive during hardships, but worship can be an oasis in the middle of everything. It sets our minds on gratitude and helps us see through a spiritual lens.

          Don’t punish yourself for not being “strong” or “perfect” through the waiting. God already knows everything about us, but He still wants us to come to Him with our weaknesses because we need to.

          Focus and make a list of everything good that’s around you. If you can’t come up with anything, ask God to show you and bring to your mind how good He’s been. That assures us that He can do it again.

          Surrender all that worries you to God. We don’t have to carry all this weight of fear. When we fear and worry, we trust in our own capacity. We are human, we stumble. God doesn’t. He can handle the weight and control over our lives better than we can, He is God. We can trust that He loves us and wants the best for us. He will come through.

Remember, He is close to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18), and He is coming back.

James 5:7-8 (NASB)

7 Therefore be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until [f]it gets the early and late rains. 8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.