This past week, it was my turn to speak at our weekly Unashamed club meeting. Below is just an excerpt of what I went over:
Sometimes in life we face all these struggles and it feels like there’s no getting out. If it isn’t sports, school, work or volunteering it could be things like struggles with trust, self worth, truth, and patience too. For some people the struggle may be an addiction or infatuation. For other people it might be a struggle to live out their faith outside of church building walls. Often times it becomes so overwhelming because we try to do it all on our own. But we were never created to carry our struggles on our own. Galatians 6:2 says “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the laws of Christ.”
I’ve grown to learn that without the struggles in life, we’d be stuck in the same place forever. If we’re always sitting back in our comfort zones, there wouldn’t be any change. If you didn’t push yourself to run another mile or take another rep, there wouldn’t be much change. Sometimes walking with Christ in itself is a daily struggle. I know for a fact that it’s tough to live out your life as a Christian in school. But despite our shame and fear to live out our faith as christians in school and in the community, God hasn’t given up on us and he hasn’t forsaken us.
I’m not that naive to think that everyone in this room is a christian or that everyone in this room believes in God. I’m not gonna be the one to assume that we’re all just good christians in this room either. To the people who don’t believe in God, we love you and we’re praying for you. To the people who are starting to doubt their faith, don’t give up on a God who’s brought you this far. Despite your questions and disbelief, God is for you and he’s working for your good. I challenge you to return to the roots that you were first grounded in. He’s a patient God and he’ll never leave you. It’s easy to blame God and question God through our struggles and through all the turmoil happening in the world. Colossian 2:1-3 says “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”So whenever you’re facing struggles and it feels like you’re all alone, there are always people around you willing to help. And if nobody wants to help, there’s always gonna be a God that you can rely on to bring you through it all.
I truly believe that God doesn’t place obstacles in place if he didn’t think you could overcome them. Often times, the struggle you may be facing is the struggle to believe that there is a God to help you through your struggles (that’s struggle-ception). I believe that it’s the toughest thing to believe in something that you can’t even see, but at the same time, that’s faith. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we don’t see (that’s Hebrews 11:1). Whether you accept it or not, family and friends are gonna fail you and there’s really only one person that you can rely on. I challenge you to rely on the only one who can bring you through your struggles. I believe that once you stop the pity party for your struggles, God can not only bring you through whatever situation you’re going through, but you’ll grow too because of it. I challenge you to embrace your struggles instead of letting it overwhelm you. I know for a fact that through embracing the struggle, you’ll come out stronger. When doubt and fear become overwhelming, leave it at the feet of the maker. The struggle is real, but the scandalous grace of God is greater.
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