PART THREE: FACING ADVERSITY

Everybody has "those days". The days when almost everything seems to be going wrong. The days when you don't quite understand what the problem is.  Fear and anxiety creep up on you and choke every bit of faith you had left over. 

Adversity can ravage your life and leave you broken. In those trying times, it's easy for you to begin doubting the goodness of God. 'I mean, if there is a good God out there somewhere, why would he allow something as tragic as this to happen?'- you may think. 

In other instances, you could even begin to think that God has changed His mind about you. Like His good plan for your life has ceased or has been thwarted. But all of these doubts are far from the truth. 

Just because unpleasant circumstances have taken place in your life doesn't mean God has changed. The adversities we exeperience in life do not render God a bad God. They don't render Him mean or unkind or even unloving. He is still good. His plan for your life is still good. His promises to you have not changed. They are still Yes and Amen in Christ. And most importantly, His love for you has not changed. This is why the apostle Paul said in Romans 8 verse 38 and 39: 

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our LORD." 

Unforeseen unpleasant circumstances do not seperate you from God's love for you. 

If you ask me why there's so much evil in the world despite God's goodness, i'd say I don't know. You and I can't have all the answers to life's problems. That is where trusting God comes in. 

So how, then, do we face adversity? 

The first step to dealing with adversity is acceptance. Accepting that this has happened. Part of this acceptance includes acknowledging the role that you had to play in its occurance, if any. If you had a role to play in the occurance of the calamity that has befallen you, then you need to face up to that fact. Take responsibility for it. And then forgive yourself for whatever it is that you did that lead to it. Receive God's mercy for your mistakes and learn from them. If you played no role in it, then the least you can do is accept it. 

After acceptance comes moving forward. What has happened has happened, now how do you move forward from it? How do you work your life around it? Having the right attitude about negative circumstances in your life helps you move forward from them. Do not be bitter about them. Don't let them suck all the joy out of you. Pick up a few lessons from them for your own betterment.

Being bitter about adversity does not help you in any way. It does not help you heal. It does not help you move forward with your life. And it most certainly does not help you become a better person. Being bitter profits for nothing. 

After you have decided to move forward with your life, the next thing for you to do is take it one step at a time. It's not always necessary for you to calculate every move you make. You don't have to have this whole life thing all figured out. Take each day as it comes and trust God to lead you every step of the way. I am not trying to discourage you from making plans for your life, NO! What I'm saying here is don't try to figure every little detail of life out. That's humanly impossible. Just take life one step at a time. 

The last but not the least thing you can do is simply trust in God. The significance of trusting in God through difficult seasons of our lives can not be over emphasized. Trust God to get you through it. Trust Him to deliver you from it. Trust God to work it out for your good. 

It's a wrap on this episode. I hope to have you back here in the next episode where we'll discuss the various kinds of coping mechanisms that we can employ in order for us to handle the pressure that comes with adulting. Until then, please grab your free copy of my latest E book down below.