Working Through Hard Places - Reality Check

We're all working through hard places.

We smile, dance, and clap along, although we're fighting ourselves and others while we try to get it together....in those hard places. We seek to exchange our hardships for comfort, smoothing it over mentally, just to be okay. We can't shake it: people, places, and unpleasant things. We can't deal with it, yet the frustrations we face in life must be met and worked through.

Don't underestimate where you are. What we thought was easy looks good on others. We often tell ourselves what they have and how they made it through, "that could have, should have, been me." But in reality, could we have worked through their hardships, pain, and frustrations? Unexpected situations will rock our comfort. During the hard times, those hard places are often where strong people dwell... prayers are often answered.

Why me? You are assigned to that hard place, to that trial, to that moment when all is tested.

Your patience, your compassion, your attitude, all is checked. How do you respond? What reaction will you lead with? You will grow within the circumstances and change if you work through it rationally for the better. Regardless of those who push, the naysayers and the negative forces confronting you will challenge your best. Your purpose lies beyond that unexpected situation, that uncomfortable time in life.

In those moments, you are forced to be, forced to stand up and live. Work through it, find a reason, a desire to walk through it, and grow. Hard places become difficult when the triggers of past trauma are revisited. Triggers fire the destructive bullets again and again, even if gently touched. While facing current challenges, you'll pull the trigger by saying, "I wasn't able to dodge that; how can I get through this." The trigger is pulled, and the bullets of your past will kill you.

Good news travels slowly, but bad news stares at you; it doesn't leave; it becomes the trigger waiting to be pulled. We pray for the good news but must work through it all; it changes who we are. Don't attach yourself to the hard places or make it a permanent place to dwell. Walk through it knowing God walks with you. Don't lose the blessing to despair.

Don't dwell on the promise delay simply because it wasn't answered when you thought it should be. Stand in it; your blessing is coming.