All of us go through times that we think will not end.  To be honest, some people seem to enjoy going through hard times.  They will tell you constantly of how much more difficult their life is than yours.  You will never get me to understand that syndrome even though it exists.  Some of us do go through truly painful experiences that seem to have no expiration date.  I learned this the hard way in 2010.  What surprised me is how resilient a person can become even when being poisoned as part of treatment.  It just becomes something you do in order to be better.  We do have a few of our people here in the church going through such experiences.  But most of us face times that can be even worse because of its nature.

Having really huge adversity thrown at you is never fun but you can find ways to cope or survive.  I think what can be more dangerous are the times when small things pile up without any relief in sight.  What happens is one small or somewhat small obstacle rises up only to be followed by another.  None of it is fatal but it becomes a huge weight on the soul.  We are like the ancient story of pushing one boulder up a hill then having another come along right behind it.  We may not be diagnosed with a terminal illness but we just don't feel well.  Our finances may not be wiped out but it seems as if something always needs to be paid.  Relationships may not be destroyed but there is a constant tension always tearing at our heart.  No matter how hard we try it just appears we make no real progress to change things.

This is one of those moments for me.  Work is hectic as we try to do a few new things along with our search for a new staff member.  This is not all bad but it does take up time normally used for other things.  Life at home is just as frazzled without my daughter who always is a huge help.  Again, this is not all bad but it does offer more to the usual workload.  Then my youngest had a bad day at school yesterday.  He is my best buddy so it hurts me when things go wrong.  Again, this is not totally bad as he learned a few lessons for the future.  Maybe you get my point now.  Most of this is just stuff that happens but when it builds up it does wear a person down.  It's hard to see beyond all of the crisis or to keep a Godly focus.

What are we to do?  Giving up is not an option.  Way too many people just skip out on responsibility to escape the stress.  No one ever said life is easy.  It surely is never said in scripture that believers will take a comfortable path to heaven.  Glib answers are not enough to really make things better.  I am one who does believe God may give us more than we can bear on our own.  My view is that He does this to clarify our priorities to give Him more room to operate.  Why would we ever need to trust God if we can do it all ourselves?  The believer can be sure that God does have a purpose for all of this.  He is never finished with shaping our character.  We always have aspects of our life in need of being refined to His image.  My main idea during these times is not to ask when it will come to an end.  We ask what will God do with these experiences to make us more like Him. 

Bro. Trey