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Are you struggling with feelings of sadness, loneliness or despair? Facing challenges you think you can’t survive? Talk to someone who is ready to listen.
Do you get tired of the struggles and challenges in your life? I do, sometimes. It seems like there always are challenges in our lives. Our own agendas, health issues, busy schedules to name a few. Maintaining a home is a never-ending job. You get one thing fixed and then there is another. There are often stressful situations within our families or place of employment.
However, God has given us encouragement in His Word. In Isaiah 41:10, we read, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” It is a comfort to know we don’t have to be afraid or dismayed because God is always with us. He will strengthen us, help us, and hold our hand as He walks with us through the challenges of life.
God may try to get our attention by allowing trials and challenges to come into our lives. They often cause us to be still and listen to God’s voice. Many times, we are so busy with our own agendas, families, responsibilities, and activities that we do not take time for God. Our hearts need nourishment from God’s Word to persevere.
The natural thing is to protect ourselves from pain, disappointment, or discouragement. It does not matter if we are children or adults we all face challenges. They just look different. Humanly, we want to avoid stressful situations and pray, “Don’t let anything bad happen to me.” To which the Lord may say, “I need to allow disappointment, pain, and failure. I want you to learn to trust me more when you are afraid and troubled so I can walk with you. Then I will pour my blessings on you.”
God may allow challenging situations in our lives for a purpose—to develop our character and spiritual growth. Trials and challenges are inevitable. We must learn to expect them, submit to them, and learn from them. The challenges we face are not meant to destroy us. They are exercises designed to make us strong enough to fulfill our God-given assignments. God also wants to reveal His deep love for us through our trials. Trials help us move from theoretical faith to practical faith. Let’s pray we will see our challenges as spiritual exercises designed to make us become stronger spiritually and as a person.
When we are overwhelmed with a challenge, we have material for a miracle. If we invite God to get involved, follow His directions we will see amazing results.
God has created each of us for a unique purpose and given us a God-given assignment. He wants us to trust and obey Him, developing an intimate relationship with Him, as we walk through our journey of life. However, often we walk away from Him and take our own route, which leads to additional trials and challenges.
Dear Heavenly Father, help me to:
• Expect, submit, and learn from my trials and challenges.
• Trust You when I am afraid or troubled.
• Cast all my anxieties on You because You care for me.
• Understand, accept, and be motivated to pursue my God-given assignments.
• Trust You to provide the resources to fulfill my God-given assignments.
Question: Do you see your challenges as steps to spiritual growth for your God-given assignment? Explain.
About the Author Lillian Penner
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i have had many trials during my life too many to list but God has always been there for me and i know with out him i never would have gotten through any of them. PTL for His grace
I am so happy to hear that the message God gave to me has ministered to so many people. Thanks for your encouraging comments. Let’s pray that we will always see God at work in our lives when we face difficult times. Could the difficult times be pictures from God to remind us of His presence and faithfulness?
May God bless you richly as you trust Him for each of your needs.
I enjoy the content in your devotionals very much. I’m not so fond of the new format. I am getting on in years and am having a hard time reading it. for some reason the font seems small than before. Thanks you for challenging me to greater growth in my faith. I never miss reading your offerings.
I believe it is during our trials that our faith is tested. If we didn’t have them in our lives, then how would we know where we are spiritually? God already knows, but often we think our faith is strong until a crisis develops, and we wonder where God went. It is not difficult to praise God during the good times, but do we praise Him in the midst of strife and heavy burdens? He is always praise-worthy, regardless of our circumstances, and how we handle our trials is a measuring stick of our faith.
It’s great to receive conformation when things get interesting in your life and you know what to do and then a devotion like this shows up and confirms everything that you believe the Holy Spirit is saying to you. Everything in my life for the past year and a half has been about growing up in the Lord and not running from things when they get hard, even though it has been a struggle, I have placed my trust in the Lord and he has guided me and things are better then they where I have not made it all the way through yet but walking and talking in the spirit has help sooooooooo much thank you for your trust in God!
This is a just in time devotional… At this present moment, I am going through a rough time in my relationship. I don’t know if this struggle is for me to move on or for me to just learn from what is going on. But however I look at it, God is trying to make me into a better person. I just need to hold His hand all the time and follow exactly where He leads, and not where I want to go. In every struggle, there is an opportunity to triumph.
Wow, this devotional came at the perfect time for me. After trying to get pregnant for 3 years, my husband and I are going through a really difficult pregnancy. Doctors dont think the pregnancy will last for much longer. My husband and I are praying for a miracle. Throughout this time weve definetly grown in our marriage and relationship with God. We’ve also got to experience the abundance of love and support from friends and family. We see the blessings in the midst of all the pain but Im starting to get weary. I feel like my faith and strength is stretched thin. In the end I know I that God loves me and knows whats best for us. I just hope that theres a baby in the picture..but Ill surrender to whatever God decides.
Thank you so much for this powerful devotional. It’s true, and tough to remember this. It’s often unpleasant for us to think God can do something through tough times, but thank you for reminding us. God bless you.
I do believe that the trials I experience are lessons to be learned. I have always said that if things are going too smoothly, then I need to worry. Satan doesn’t have to fight for you if he already has you. So all the trials and frustrations are just reassurances that God is a central part of my life and Satan is trying to steal me away.
Rejoice in all circumstances…
Wow! As a new school year rolls around and the challenges of teaching high school presents themselves, this surely has reminded me to stay calm and focus on the prize. God will provide.
God bless.
Hi my name is jerry, Iam a burn again christian for about two years now, ive been struggleing with stong strongholds since childhood the first one has to do with myself-image the secound is pornagraphy ive been prayed for alot at my home church been to the altar who knows how many times but the point is I still struggle with both this might sound a litte weird but I feel that theres some connection with the two what I mean is that when Iam faced with the self-image problem which is a head full of dry sculp it itches alot so I tend to overly irratait it and then I end up feeling discourage bec I had no control over the matter then thats when I tend to pleasure myself with pornagraphy, sorry for the long Note, but am I being set in a trail with the two to srenthin me