Life is Hard

Life is hard. I'm 100% confident no one reading this blog can disagree with that statement. Just to name a few culprits that make life challenging:

-Money
-Work
-Family
-Expectations regarding all of the above (to make a certain amount of money, to obtain a certain amount of material possesions, even if you can't afford them, to have a great job and a nice office and lots of time off, see your family often and make sure everyone is getting along)
-Our selfish sin nature (It's all about me)

These can be especially challenging for those of us who try to handle all of life's problem's ourselves - those of us who are independent/perfectionist types who want to do things our way and oh by the way I want it done perfectly. That's actually my personality type - in my grad school class we did some leadership personality typing and my personality is one that leads to stress - I want things done my way, right now, perfectly. Oh and by the way, since no one else can do it, I'll do it myself. Yikes. Am I really like that? Ewww.

I'm not sure that I have a point with all this, but if I did, it would be that I think the most important lesson (and probably the most difficult)to learn on my journey as a Christain is that I can't do it alone. And that includes my interactions with my family, at work, earning a living, etc... So to approach any difficult situation without consulting God or having Him be apart of our every thought and action is asking for more trouble.

Our preacher once said that we view God as a member of our Board of Directors of life. We want His input and value His opinion - but do we always follow His guidance? Do we always obey? I would have to back up a step further and ask - do I always seek His guidance? No.

So to get to the point, whatever you're dealing with right now - and I know you are. All of us (as my preacher also says) are entering into a storm, in the middle of a storm, or just coming out of a storm. Offer it up to God. Ask Him to take control and give you the patience, grace, peace and strength to handle any situation.