Blessings in Disguise

Are you struggling? We all struggle with something and maybe you're in a place where life is going well and you have nothing to complain about, no struggle you see. I know you have and will struggle. Struggling is difficult. It's exhausting. Everyone has different struggles on different levels. Something I think we all like to ask at one point or another is why. I have struggled, I do struggle, and I know I will struggle. A lot of times when non believers hear that Christians struggle they're surprised because they think that we don't struggle at all, well that's not the case. Something I've realized is that struggles can either be blessings or they can be damaging, and it's a choice. It's you who decides whether you will let it be a blessing or if you'll allow it to destroy you. There are a few things I want to discuss in this post. One being how struggles can be blessings, how struggles are helpful, and how they can help or teach us. Imagine a life with no struggles. At first it sounds pretty nice, right? But, let's dig a little deeper and then see if that changes your mind. Without struggles there would be no learning from your mistakes, no growth in any relationship, including yours with God. Through our struggles God shows His perfection. He has a plan for us and some of that may include struggling. He loves you, a lot. If He didn't we wouldn't struggle. Sounds controversy to the world, doesn't it? That's because it is. A struggle being a blessing? God allowing us to struggle because He loves us? Crazy right?! Let me try to explain this in the best way I can. God shows us through our struggles to trust and rely on God. When we struggle we often feel weak and disqualified to do it on our own. So, one way God uses our struggles as blessings is showing us how much we need Him and how much we can trust and rely on Him. Struggles also bring to light the things we can accomplish. Have you ever been going through a struggle or looked back on a time you were going through something so hard and thought wow, I can't believe I was able to get through that? When we triumph over our struggles there's this sense of, I can do this, this sense of I am strong and good enough. God also uses our struggles to teach us. Our struggles teach us how to be brave, rely on God, love, trust, fight, recognize schemes of the devil, teaches us lessons, to keep going, not give up, and how to allow God to be in control. These are just some of the things it teaches. In the moment, struggles seem so painful, dreadful, and scary. But, when we unpack it, really our struggles are just another step into something more and something greater. It is taking further steps into God's plan for us that we cannot fully see. Lastly, God can sometimes use our struggles as a tool to teach us the consequences of our choices and freedom. God has given us the freedom to choose right from wrong. This is a big freedom to have and sometimes God allows us to struggle or make the wrong choice to allow us to exercise that freedom, and to also show us that with great freedom comes great responsibility. You're not alone when you struggle and you're not the only one who struggles, struggling is not a bad thing, nothing to be ashamed of. God is with you when you struggle, just let Him be there, also find friends, who you know will walk, and encourage you through it and point you back towards God, always. You're not the only one who struggles. There are numerous places in the Bible where people struggle. Take Job for example. He lost everything. There comes a point where Job is grieving and in anguish, and blames God. "With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt. He grips me by the collar of my coat. He has thrown me into the mud. I'm nothing more than dust and ashes."- Job 30:18-19. He is at a point where he is breaking, feeling as though God is not listening to him when he cries out, like God has left him stranded in the midst of his struggle. At the beginning of Job it speaks about Job being a man of integrity and steering away from evil, and Job is upset because everything gets taken away, but he did everything right. Through this book, Job questions God, finally at the end God pretty much says are you done fighting me and arguing with me? Job says he will cover his mouth and so no more, and God continues on saying that He has somethings to say. Job wrestled with God and struggled, Jacob, David, all these people struggled and/or wrestled with God. I think we can all relate to Job at some point. Job went through so much, but God showed him how to fight the devil, how to cling to Him, taught Job patience, and how much he needed to rely on God in that moment. Not only did all those people, and more struggle, but Jesus struggled. He lost his friend, He was mocked, scorned, beaten, and died a painful death. Makes our struggles seem so small, huh? They're not, God cares about them, He wants you to come to Him with them. Here is another example of struggle and how God can use it for good. Let's take the great depression for our other example. The great depression began in 1929, it all began with a stock market crash, and it didn't end until ten years later! It showed the weaknesses in our economy and what needed to be fixed so that it didn't happen again. The New deal was created by former President Roosevelt. He put something in place to try and fix the issue and restore the peace, this did the job, and in the long run helped us now. In summary, struggles are blessings, but can be seen and interpreted as destroying us. Struggles strengthen us in many ways, especially in our relationship with Christ. We are not alone when we struggle and you're not the only one who struggles, even Jesus struggled. I know it may be hard to consider this struggle a blessing. It doesn't make sense, doesn't fit, but trust God, give it to Him, and try and see the good in it. Ask God to help you to see the good in it, or if He could help you to trust Him that He has good after it or through it.