The Struggles We Experience
tell people where we are or who we are, depending on our response

Sometimes we struggle because of our own choices, and sometimes we struggle because we live in an imperfect world.

Often, life can feel unfair. Often, we are weighed down by mountains we did not create, bruised without throwing the first punch, and isolated without walking away. Jesus experienced these realties on the cross. He was weighed down with sentences and sins he did not commit. He was bruised with hands he wanted to hold, and he was isolated by people he loved.

 Although, if you created a mountain, threw the first punch, or walked away he still sees you and hears you. He knows you, empathizes with you, and loves you. The cause of this heartache does not erase the hope you have in him.

“You don’t have to be strong, but you have to keep going. Don’t waste the opportunity to be shaped by these struggles.”

Blog

You’re Not As Healthy As You Think You Are

You’re not as healthy as you think you are.  That’s a presumptuous sentence for the start of a book, but if you’ve continued reading to sentence two even after reading sentence one, then you’re exactly the kind of person I want to be reading along. Because the...

Choosing to Cope

Choosing to Cope

Pain is pain. It hurts. People hurt. People are allowed to hurt.

Stop telling people that if they grieve the pain they’re  letting it win. It’s not about if you decide to feel the pain it’s about what you do with the pain. It’s about how you treat it and tend to it.

Stop for the One

Stop for the One

Struggle Strategizer: Emily Rice  If there is one thing I've learned in my life, it is that ONE person is worth it. If you stop ONE person from committing suicide… If you help ONE person start a business… If you give ONE person advice that changes their life… If you...

5 Mental Health Myths in the Church

5 Mental Health Myths in the Church

  There is nothing wrong with someone for struggling with mental health concerns. Whether someone battles anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or another mental health struggle they are loved and known by God....

How to Embrace the Crazy Days

How to Embrace the Crazy Days

Struggle Strategizer: You A few years ago, I woke up every morning wishing, I could hit snooze for just a few more minutes. I would wait until the very last, possible minute before jumping out of bed. I thought college heavily influenced this pattern, but I was wrong....

Struggling to Watch Other’s Suffer (Part 2)

Struggling to Watch Other’s Suffer (Part 2)

Struggle Strategizer: Martha *Read Part 1 to learn more about the resurrection of Lazarus, and Mary’s experience. Martha was a busy body, and she liked to get things done. Mary and Martha were both hustlers, but they hustled in different ways (Luke 10:38-42). Martha...

A letter to the Girl who’s Struggling

A letter to the Girl who’s Struggling

Struggle Strategizer: You To the girl who feels misunderstood: Jesus sees you, hears you, knows you, and empathizes with you. He was misunderstood too. To the girl who feels that no one understands: He feels your pain, because he lives in you, and he created you. He...

Purpose in Pain

Purpose in Pain

Struggle Strategizer: Mary, the mother of Jesus Are you ready and willing for God to work? Easter isn’t just a yearly celebration. Easter is a reminder that Jesus can bring what is dead back to life! Easter is a reminder that Jesus can bring purpose out of pain!...

To the Girl Fighting a Long Fight:

To the Girl Fighting a Long Fight:

Struggle Strategizer: You It’s hard to be human. Right now the world is feeling that truth to its core. It’s terrifying and beautiful all at the same time. It’s terrifying because uncertainty is overpowering certainty, isolation is overpowering community, chaos is...