WHEN LIFE HURTS

We live in a chaotic world, a bizarre world – where hardship and tragedy abound.  Planes crash, incurable diseases kill, fires and floods destroy, and your loved ones leave.  Life hurts, sometimes very deeply.  In the real world suffering is inevitable.  Everybody goes through it at one point or another in their lives.  We may get hit by a single blow, like losing a family member.  Or we may have to carry a day-to-day burden, like enduring a chronic illness or living with someone who is abusive or chemically dependent.  Often, something less dramatic than a death of a loved one or loss of a home may shake our faith – Parents separating, a special relationship ends, friends move away, pressures at school intensify.  While some of these may not be earth – shattering events, they do create pain, stress and suffering.  They challenge our faith.  They make life hurt.  The simple fact is, mild or tragic, hardships and suffering exist.  But so does God.  Whether we are dealing with a serious illness or a failing grade, He is present in the midst of our pain.  That is why; we must be encouraged to rejoice in suffering (hard as it is), to remain hopeful in the midst of trials and to find faith in the face of tragedy.  The key to enduring rough times is in hoping and coping – hoping things will get better, and learning to cope even if they don’t.

        Enduring rough times is never easy.  The first step to take is to make God your main source.  When life really hurts, your relationship with God can mean more than ever.  Only God can help you from the inside out.  You should also admit that you are suffering and that you don’t like it.  Some people are so determined to keep it all bottled up inside so scared of pain that they ignore the burden they’re carrying.  Find someone you can talk to, somebody with some experience, someone who’s been there before. Having someone to lean on can give you a lot of hope.  And finally be thankful. At the risk of sounding like ones of those superficial “look on the bright side” types, I’m just suggesting that your life is not that bad at all, even if you’re suffering.

You want to talk about suffering? In the Bible, a man named Job really suffered big time.  He lost everything, family, property and his health.  The only thing he did not lose was his belief that God is good.  But that was enough to carry him through.  At the very least, we have God’s loving nature to depend on.  And most of us have a whole lot more than that.  We thank God for the measure of health we have, for freedom, for people who love us and for the sun rising up in the morning.  The point is an attitude of thankfulness for the good things put some perspective on the bad things.  Circumstances change but God does not.  The goal in suffering is to get through it.  At the end of the journey can be a new – found endurance.  With these, though life hurts sometimes, you will make it through the storm.