And there ‘they’ are. Didn’t ask for them. Totally unwanted. But they come anyway. Probably, because we attach too much significance to them… yes? Regardless, they rarely go away of their own accord. And, rarely do they do so willingly. Soooo, when they come – what do you do? I suspect it could be argued that when struggles come, we feel like we have the weight of the world on our shoulders… that no one really understands us or what we are facing. Yes? Tell me… does this mindset help you in resolving your struggles? Of course not. Yet we all do this.
Struggles are a fact of life. But… they don’t have to be viewed negatively. They can be excellent ‘teachers’. You can learn about you, about how you handle your struggles, if they are mountain or molehill struggles, etc. There are learnings, if you want them. Truth is… sometimes we don’t know what it is that we are struggling about. Sometimes it seems that we are beset on all sides! In these times, I tend to search scripture when I need an answer to a problem, and especially so when it comes to struggling. (Admittedly I do quote these scriptures in a variety of places… but they are answers.)
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV)
“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.” (Romans 5:3-5, ESV)
“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
(2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV)
The ‘bell ringer for me is:
“We are pressured in every way [hedged in], but not crushed; perplexed [unsure of finding a way out], but not driven to despair;”
(2 Corinthians 4:3, AMP)
Obviously, we can always choose those self-defeating attitudes and behaviors that only compound our struggles or we can stop. Stopping affords us an opportunity to catch our breath and then proactively begin to look at our struggle and resolve it.
When we look at the last scripture we see that it is an ‘attitude’ issue as well as a ‘problem’. When we tackle our attitude issues first then we are better equipped to resolve the struggle. Struggling is an ‘is’, we don’t seem to be able to escape, however we also don’t need to over-emphasize or lose our perspective. We have been made conquerors, so we can overcome, we can resolve. We Are Able!
