I\u2019ve never heard of anyone attending a \u201cCongratulations on Your Difficult Times\u201d party before. Maybe that\u2019s because job losses, health situations, messed-up family relationships and disappointments are just plain hard to face.<\/p>\n
So how can we cope when we\u2019re reeling from the pink slip we\u2019ve just received, or we\u2019ve just gotten one of \u201cthose\u201d phone calls from the doctor, or we\u2019re grieving the loss of a loved one?<\/p>\n
Here are some things God\u2019s shown me when I\u2019ve taken one of those unplanned\u2014and unwanted\u2014journeys: <\/p>\n
1.<\/strong> I am never alone when I go through hard times.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong> His grace is sufficient. It will be there when I need it.<\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> He will provide all<\/em> that I need.<\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> What I learn from those dark days isn\u2019t wasted. God can use me if I\u2019ll let Him.<\/p>\n 5.<\/strong> Even when I don\u2019t understand what God is doing, I can still trust Him.<\/p>\n 6.<\/strong> Hardships draw me closer to Him in a way that often doesn\u2019t happen when times are good.<\/p>\n 7.<\/strong> Hugs, cards, a casserole or dessert, or some heartfelt words go a long way to help soothe a breaking heart.<\/p>\n Have you ever been reading your Bible and felt like God put a spotlight on a verse? That\u2019s what happened recently as I read Psalm 119:71, \u201cMy suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.\u201d<\/p>\n Wow, I\u2019d never thought of it like that before, \u201cMy suffering was good for me.\u201d That phrase was a sweet reminder that God has a purpose in all that He does. And if He has a difficult circumstance for me to go through, I\u2019d be foolish to complain about it.<\/p>\n Lord, during difficult moments in life, help me learn the lessons you want me to learn. Help me find the nuggets you want me to discover. And when I get to the end of those hard times, help me look back and see how those days of suffering were truly good for me. Amen. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve never heard of anyone attending a \u201cCongratulations on Your Difficult Times\u201d party before. Maybe that\u2019s because job losses, health situations, messed-up family relationships and disappointments are just plain hard to face. So how can we cope when we\u2019re reeling from the pink slip we\u2019ve just received, or we\u2019ve just gotten one of \u201cthose\u201d phone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":29116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[376],"tags":[78,59],"ppma_author":[474],"class_list":["post-20895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-managing-life-changes","tag-stress","tag-worry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n