Struggling?

You are not alone. Even Jesus struggled. Yes, you read that correctly. Jesus struggled. He warned us that in this life there would be trouble. But that He overcame this world, so WE could have life in abundance.

I am struggling too. Struggling is a part of life. It’s not fun. It is hard. No one wants to struggle.

I find in these moments or seasons of struggle,  are where supernatural beauty can be found. It’s where, I think, God puts life-changing nuggets, as my friend once called them, in our paths to find.

In my latest struggle.

I was looking out my car window waiting at a stop light when I had a thought- one I think most of us have had, from time to time. The thought was,” whats the point of doing good?” I save money and it’s never enough. Or, I did everything I was told to do, but that too was still not good enough.  I think the hardest struggles are the ones you work hard at, put forth your very best, but the result you were working so hard to achieve, didn’t turn out the way you expected it would.

As I sat in my car thinking about this,  for less time than it took for the light to change. These were the options I came up with.

Option 1

Give up on being good. What is good anyway? My good can be different than what you think is good. Or what my neighbor thinks is good. I could decide to be self-focused and do life completely different. I could give up on going out of my way to be kind. I could be nasty and bitter.  In other words, do the exact opposite of what and who I am right now.

Option 2

I could continue to keep walking the path I believe God has laid out for me to walk. I could continue to show God’s love through my imperfect human self. Or I could do the things God leads me to do, even in the face of ” not good enough.”

See, I know that God is glorified in my weakness.

I know you are thinking, that’s great, but weakness doesn’t feel so good.

True.

In my experience, and the more times I am reminded about this- when I take the time to picture my weakness glorifying GOD! The easier it is for me to feel weak.

My Experience

I tried Option 1, about 5 months after I graduated high school. Now looking back it was exhausting and I felt burnt, dry, empty and so many more feelings inside. Yes, I got to DO what I wanted in that moment, but that “high” never lasted long and the feelings came right back. Sometimes with more baggage than I had before. Yuck!
Five or so years of living with this mindset, and having a beautiful newborn son, at that time. I knew something had to change. I had this feeling that I needed to KNOW what was actually written in the Bible.

Since that moment, and until now, I slowly began to choose option 2, day by day. Someday’s I went back to option 1, but now those day’s have turned into moments that only last the time it takes for a traffic light to change.

I finally came to realize, in this moment, more than any other. If I do my best and even if it is, “not good enough”, in my eyes, in that moment. I have the peace, now; that I did my best. I know it. God knows it. The cherry on top of all of this is, unlike option 1, there is no baggage that comes with it.

How God “speaks” to me.

God is so great to me all the time, but I love that He meets us where we are at and talks to us in ways that we get it. He showed me Option 1 this way.

                                                A cold, gray, wall that leads nowhere.

I know I have so many things I want to do and see and people to help and talk to. The abundant life that Jesus died to give me.  I want to experience life in abundance as many days as I can before I get to live in Heaven with God forever.  So a cold, gray, mindset; does not get me to the places and people I want to see and experience.  So that is not the option for me.

Then I thought of Option 2 and this is what God showed me.

This picture shows me that regardless of what I feel like, see, think or believe about my current struggle.

This path.

This option.

Leads me to the life that I want to live out.

What about you?

I would love to hear from you.

What are you struggling with?

In these moments, at the traffic lights, what options come to you?

Please feel free to share them in the comments section.  Or join us in my Facebook Group:  Simple Life Steps with Sandy