Life sometimes feels that it is nothing but one struggle to another. I have a dear friend whose daughter suffers from seizures. My sister is struggling with her health. So many of my friends struggle with finances. Others with family situations. Sometimes when we struggle it is hard to see past that moment’s issue whether it’s pain or worry or fear or heartache. What is it you are struggling with?
Sometimes through our struggles our perspective becomes distorted. We may start getting angry at God, or at the very least questioning Him. We may start to pull away from people because we can’t see past our own pain. I’m reminded of the widow of Zarephath in I Kings 17. Here is a woman who had nothing. She was picking up a few twigs to start a small fire in order to make herself and her son a small meal out of nothing more than a handful of meal and a cup of oil because that was all she had. Here’s what I find interesting: God told Elijah to go her because that’s who He was going to use to sustain Elijah. Really? A starving widow and her son, both of whom planned on dying after eating this small cake, were going to sustain Elijah? God, however, wasn’t only thinking of Elijah, He had a plan for the widow too. But she needed to stop focusing on her problem…her struggle…and start looking beyond that. When that happened, when she allowed herself to be used by God and followed Elijah’s wishes, God sustained ALL three of them. He didn’t do it by making them all rich. No, but every day her handful of meal and cup full of oil was replenished. None of them starved because of the drought and famine in the land.
God desired for her to be a blessing to someone else even in the midst of her struggle. Because that’s where her miracle was.
If we’re not careful, our struggles will consume us. They’ll be all we think about, all we talk about, and we will be unable to see past them. However, let me encourage you to look beyond whatever it is, you’re struggling with. Look up and see that God is so much bigger than the struggles. Matthew 10 states: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”
You are of value, and you are not forgotten by God. Be encouraged, friends.
