Life is full of challenges—which means life offers us plenty of opportunities to respond to challenges. Some people rise to the occasion. Others run from it. Most of us do a little of both.
Somewhere in that mix, we may tend to lament our problems. We have some unreasonable instinct to envision smooth sailing and then curse rough waters as an aberration. But lamenting difficulties, as if something has gone horribly wrong, is not going to help.
It also isn’t going to align you with God’s perspective on them. The truth, which your feelings of being overwhelmed will never tell you, is that you have everything you need to face those challenges. God has put it within you. Adversity is not there to crush you; God intends for it to lift you up. Just as a headwind lifts a plane at takeoff, so will your challenges raise you higher—if you build up some speed and move into them. If you don’t, they will only push you down.
Don’t let them do that. Lamenting life’s daily challenges gives them the upper hand. Refuse to be overwhelmed; run into them with energy and confidence. They will eventually have to bow to the power at work within you.
