tough

Let’s face it, we’ve all been through tough times at one point or another in our life. In fact, some of you may be going through tough times even now. Life has a way of throwing us challenges that aren’t always what we want them to be and they seem to always be at the worst possible times. During these inevitable times of adversity and struggle, what do we do as Christians to make it through another day?

I was recently sitting out on my terrace enjoying the beautiful sunny day. It was a great time just to catch up on my reading and have some study time. The sun was blistering hot but, fortunately, I was sitting in the shade under the sheltering arms of an overhanging tree. The breeze in the shade was wonderful and while the heat of the day was all around me, I was totally comfortable under the sun-blocking arms of the tree. As long as I stayed under the protection of the tree, life was good; let me have to venture farther out on the terrace away from the tree’s protection and my life suddenly became very uncomfortable.

As I look back on my life, I can think of many times of trials and set-backs in my life. I often wonder why things happened the way they did and how (maybe) they could have been prevented or had a different outcome. In every case, I can trace the problem back to not following God in a particular situation. In every situation, I took it upon myself to do what I thought was right and not what God thought was right—and I suffered the consequences. I learned the hard way that God’s Word is like a sheltering tree in our life. If you stay under the umbrella of HIS magnificent grace, mercy, and strength, our lives are much more enjoyable. Yet, when we stray out from under HIS protection, life becomes uncomfortable and unbearable sometimes.

Where are you in your life journey? Are you underneath God’s sheltering arms, or do you simply see the tree off in the distance but are outside His protection doing your own thing? The choice is always yours; however, life is much more enjoyable under His protective arms.

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We live in a very competitive society. Everyone competes in the job market. Everyone competes to obtain a good education. Everyone fights to make ends meet in these tough financial times. I know from personal experience that life is tough. No one goes through life wanting to fail. Unfortunately, we often don’t know what to do to make things better or help us get “over the hump.”

I wanted to share some thoughts that I’ve learned over the years that have helped me to keep going when I didn’t know what else to do or where to turn. These three simple, but often overlooked steps, could make the difference for you as well:

Don’t set your goals too low: you may be saying to yourself, I don’t have goals or don’t know what is best for my life, or for me, it’s not a matter of setting goals too low; I don’t even know where to begin. Trust me; I’ve been there. My suggestion in setting goals is to ask yourself a simple question, “If I had unlimited funds and time was not an issue, what would I do with my life?” If you had absolutely no restrictions, what would you be doing with your life? When answering this question think big, not small. Why? It’s been my experience that you must be excited about your goals. Excitement will keep you going through the tough times and you certainly can’t get excited about small ambitions.

Don’t look back: one of the worst things I’ve seen people do (including myself) is to look back at past failures. We’ve all had failures and done things we’ve regretted, but looking back does absolutely no good. The mere fact that you may not have been successful in the past does not mean you can’t be successful in the future. Similarly, don’t listen to nay-sayers who may try to discourage you. You control your success, not someone else. Don’t let them rob you of your success.

Have unshakable discipline: discipline means many things to many people. My experience says that you have to be willing to sometimes do things in reaching your goals that other people are not willing to do. You may have to work longer hours. You may have to save more money. You may have to stop watching television as much. There may be many things in your lifestyle that you will need to change in order to reach your goals, the key is to be consistent in your goals. Taking positive steps toward your goal some of the time will not help you be successful. You must be consistent and take positive steps toward your goals all the time.

Rest in His Sheltering Arms

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Staying Strong and Pressing On Toward the Mark

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