OVERCOMING DIFFICULT SEASONS

I have always battled with God, telling Him that I was ready for whatever blessing He was supposed to give me during a certain season in my life. And every time I would get disappointed when I would not receive it.

We are constantly telling God all the things we want from Him, because we believe we have been faithful in our current season. I admit it, I am guilty of that. I always find it easy to be faithful during my good seasons, but what about the bad seasons? When something goes wrong in my life or not the way I planned, I forget about God. I completely lose faith in Him and all He has done for me. There was a year where my faith was tested brutally. I’m telling you, it was one of the worst years of my life. 

I felt like everything was building up for this very year, and in this very moment, I wanted to give up on God completely. I started believing that He was choosing not to listen to me, to the point where I thought I had to keep Him in check of what He was doing with my life. All around me, it seemed like everyone had it together, things were running smoothly in their lives while mine was stagnant. 

I constantly wondered “How come this person received this blessing?! They don’t even go to church! Do you see how much they’re sinning right now?!” God, Look! I was always comparing my chapter two with someone else's chapter thirty. I was trying to run a race that wasn’t my own. Everyone has a different story, and God has a different plan for each one of us. Yet I wasn’t seeing that. 

Now Job,is a character in the Bible that I will always admire. He was a faithful servant who lost everything he had including family, yet he still remained faithful to God. What would you do if you lost everything you owned right now? Your many titles, your degrees, your job, your wife/husband, your identity..Everything? Would you still be as faithful as Job in your bad season? I know I wasn’t. One day I felt like my whole world was falling apart, days before graduation because I told that I wouldn't’ graduate with the degree I intended to, over one credit. I know it may seem like nothing, but I lost complete faith over one credit! It was as if that moment had triggered everything that I was going through that entire year. And I wasn’t sure who or what to cling to. 

My mother, father, and I were in the car on my school’s campus trying to figure out how to fix the situation at hand. They knew this was the roughest year of my life, and they saw their daughter drifting away from God slowly. Nothing could control my anger, I was literally angry at God for not listening to me, or granting me what I thought I deserved! My father was so fed up my negativity that day and turned around yelling “WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?! CONFIDE IN GOD!” I remember this day like it was yesterday. I looked deep into my father's eyes and said“ I don’t have time for that”.  

I’m sorry, what?! Who doesn’t have time for a little faith? A little blessing? Oh that's right me, I don’t. I’ve been so negative that entire year and my faith was just spiraling downward ever since. Job’s wife even lost faith, she encouraged him to curse God during the difficult season he was going through. But I love Job’s response to her, Job replied “You foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” (Job 2:10).

Let me tell you something, God knows your weaknesses, but so does Satan. And both interplay with them in different ways. The power of the Holy Spirit manifests in your weakest season, and in your hardships. So I ask you this, who do you become when you lose your faith? What do you become? I’m saying this because some of us aren’t even human at this point. We constantly choose fear over faith, when we should be choosing faith over fear. We must let go of our fears and let Jesus guide us. 

Let the Lord manifest His grace unto you! After my rash comment about not having time for Him, the Lord would look at me with eyes filled with love and say “Then let’s make time. Let me show you. Follow me. Let’s take it one step at a time.” We never seem to have time for the Lord, yet we have time to indulge in our sins time and time again. And time and time again, there He is patiently waiting.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make straight your paths” Proverbs 3:5-6 

“For we live by faith and not by sight” 2 Corinthians 5:7 

I encourage you to walk in faith this week, regardless of what you’re facing today. Let God guide your path. We can fight fear with faith, and place our burdens and worries onto Him. Step out in faith, don’t let fear win.