Love Offers a Place to Unload
As Scripture fills my mind, something changes deep within my heart. I quit focusing on my burden, I stop comparing, and I start considering the load another may be carrying.
A crisis is any event that leads, or is expected to lead to, an unstable and dangerous situation, which affects an individual, family, group, community or society as a whole. Crises are deemed to be negative changes in life especially when they occur abruptly. Since a crisis is a testing time or an emergency event, we may panic, become stressed, or struggle to cope as a result.
Regardless of the reason for the crisis God is always in control. He cares about what we are going through (1 Peter 5:7) and He never forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5). God provides grace for our times of need if we humbly look to Him (John 15:5; Philippians 4:13). That grace can manifest itself in whatever we need: peace (Isaiah 26:3), comfort (Psalm 23:4), stability, protection, or guidance (Psalm 31:3). He will strengthen and uphold us (Isaiah 41:10). God also assures us that He can work in and through the crisis for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).
As Scripture fills my mind, something changes deep within my heart. I quit focusing on my burden, I stop comparing, and I start considering the load another may be carrying.
And a major factor making the difference between a strengthened, authentic faith or walking away in unbelief is the context in which the struggle takes place.
The fact is we are broken people living with other broken people in a broken world. The consequence of our brokenness is trials and suffering. However, the good news is this is not the final word.
Training for endurance is not glamorous. No one notices you reading your Bible before work or espouses compliments over the worn-out spots in your carpet from knelt prayers.
Hope. It’s the one thing you and I cannot live without. But trying to hold on to hope can take all your strength, particularly when hope’s old enemy, doubt, drags you toward despair.
When facing tragedy or enduring long months of drought, it’s easy to shut down and go through the motions until you don’t feel so vulnerable.
All people need to be pointed to Christ and His Holy Spirit to transform into Christlikeness and not be viewed as projects to be fixed.
The primary struggle for Christian parents in this situation is coming to terms with what happened and how to relate to their child moving forward.
You experience a real dilemma in sensitive conversations: how do you deal with different values, beliefs, priorities, worldviews, and behaviours while still caring for the person and staying involved in his or her life?
Once we understand that sin and death have been companions since they entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, we can then begin to see the different destinations of those who believe versus those who do not.