Although we make plans, changing circumstances often prevent us from "living the dream." Life is messy and often harder than imagined. How are we to experience joy and peace while treading troubled waters?
After a pandemic year of going nowhere, my husband and I took a road trip only to land in the hospital, far from home. Now the many follow-up doctor appointments. And of course, family life presents its own problems which spill over into ours.
Are painful, protracted trials portrayed in the movies you watch and novels you read? The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (which our Crestview book group is reading) asks the question: Would I be better off picking a different life from the one I am actually living?
The Apostle Paul writes many New Testament letters from jail. Missionary work is tough. Nevertheless, Paul rises above protracted suffering. Read Philippians: joy despite circumstances. What's his secret coping strategy?
We lean on Jesus Christ who gives us strength when we feel overwhelmed and weak. He carries us through the darkest days.
"I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am." Phil. 4:12-13