Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day!
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Confession: It is so easy for me to rejoice and see Jesus in my everyday when things are going great. When life is hunky-dory. When it is smooth sailing.
But when those waters of life get a little bit rough? Yikes. I feel a bit like Peter, sinking below the water’s surface.
Why? Because I took my eyes off Christ.
Photo courtesy of BK Symphony of Love via Flickr
Finding Jesus in our everyday takes practice. It is a discipline, and one that is not easily mastered, I might add. Adopting an attitude of gratitude and seeing God’s hand in our lives when things are going well is pretty easy. But it’s when we encounter the tough stuff that we need to adjust our vision and kick our faith-focused hearts into overdrive.
Think back to some the hardest seasons of your life. Chances are you are just coming out of a hard season, in one now or facing one in the future (whether you know it yet or not.) Don’t be discouraged by this fact.
Be encouraged that Jesus isn’t just in the fun, light, happy stuff of life– He is right there with us, in the tough stuff.
I can think of a thousand examples of my personal encounters with Jesus in the tough stuff. It ranges form the relatively minor like moving 3000 miles across the country with a 4-month-old to the pretty major, like deployments/family illness/death/financial struggles etc.
Even if I couldn’t see Him right there in the moment, I know now that He was there.
So I am asking Him to change my heart to see Him ALL the time– in the good and the tough stuff.
Here’s the best part about finding Jesus in our everyday tough stuff: It makes us need Him. Those moments remind us that He is God and we are not. (Thank the Lord for that one!) He gives us strength, patience, perseverance we didn’t know we had.
He loves us through our tough stuff.
Which makes the good stuff of life that much richer. And it makes the tough stuff, well, less tough. Such a beautiful thought, yes?
I know it sounds kind of crazy, but now that I have been walking with Jesus for a hot minute, I am grateful for the tough stuff of life. It has built my Jesus trust muscles. It has helped me stand when my faith-knees were weak. It has grown me.
Because I tell you what, friends– if I didn’t have any tough stuff in my life, this ministry would be zilch.
Not only would you and I have nothing in common, but really, I would have nothing to offer you. I’ve tried coaching people and doing business without Christ at the center of the good/tough stuff.
It went over like a lead balloon. (See also: Epic fail.)
Even now, He continues to shape and prune me. I have a long way to go, and honestly, I won’t get there till He calls me Home and I cross that Heavenly Golden Threshold.
But in the meantime, I am blessed to experience Jesus is the tough stuff of life… And share it with you.
Take a moment to consider the “tough stuff” in your life, be it past, present or future. What was it? What does Jesus look like in the midst of it? I always love, love, love hearing from you, so pretty please leave a comment below to join the conversation.
Dear readers, no matter where you are in your walk with Christ, in the good stuff or the tough stuff, know that He is there with you. Also, my prayer team and I would love to come alongside you and pray for you as you press forward. Submit a prayer request here if you feel led.
Be encouraged. Know that Jesus is with us in our everyday– ESPECIALLY in the tough stuff.
Walking Tall & Tough with Christ,
“God is good, a hiding place in tough times. He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help, No matter how desperate the trouble.” ~Nahum 1:7 MSG
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