Hello Greatness,

Life is beautiful. That’s a fact everyone agrees on. No matter what circumstances we might be going through at whatever stage we are- there’s a consensus that we all seem to agree upon, and that is the fact that we want to be counted among the living. So, does this mean that we as humans are born with a thick skin and hardly ever give up? I think we all just have a will to live and are willing to try as much as possible to fight for our lives.

Life is beautiful. That’s not to say that it doesn’t come with its own share of challenges. How do we overcome these various challenges that come our way and truly declare that we have overcome those challenges? It almost seems as if once we overcome one wave of difficulties, another wave seems to be standing idly by.

Life is beautiful. I know that life is beautiful and yet there are times when it just seems like I can’t see past the circumstances I’m going through. At moments like that, I look around me to see those who seem to be enjoying life and I can’t help but be envious. However, I’ve found out one amazing truth, those that I seem to envy look to be enjoying life because the have weathered their storm. Somehow, that gives me comfort that I too, will overcome the situations I can’t seem to control. They say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right? Please find some more comforting words to say to someone who is going through difficult challenges.

I’ve often found that whenever I’m going through something, the best person to help with that is God. Finding out what He wants to say to me in His Words works like a charm. At moments like that, the words, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Tell me how that doesn’t sound like an invitation that I need to consider. He has promised me rest, so of course, I’m taking those worries to Him.

Whenever we are going through things that are beyond our scope of control, the best person to tell about those things is God. I know it might be difficult. (Not a lot of people will agree with me on this). We all want to believe that it is very easy to run to God. But the truth is, we never really want to accept that we can’t control that situation. We believe that we would find solutions to the problems and then pray that God should work with the solutions we’ve come up with. I’ve given God so many timelines to get some things done for me that when I eventually reflect on it, I realize that I’m not fully giving it to God.

Here are some helpful tips to help get you through your storm:

• Go to God. This is quite literally the first step we must take. Have a conversation with God. I’ve seen lots of shows about lawyers, and quite frankly, it’s beautiful to see them get people to talk. They take advantage of what they know and get people to believe them. I recently saw Legally Blonde, and was quite surprised by how the lady, who was originally fumbling, started to change the case to her favor when she heard something she could use for her advantage. Before long, the person that was called as a witness blurted out that she was responsible for the crime. I guess what I’m trying to say is, find one of God’s Words, and like lawyers, plead your case before God and wait for Him to respond. Our God is a great conversationalist, He’s always speaking.

• Constantly encourage yourself. The fastest route to losing in life is when we are depressed. Every problem has a solution, you just must find it. You can’t expect someone who is in depression to think there’s hope somewhere. Cling to the little bit of light that you can get and keep holding onto it. People say there’s always light at the end of the tunnel, but it might seem like the tunnel is very long and wouldn’t end. Please don’t give up. The truth is, when you come out of that tunnel, people who know what you’ve been through would wonder how you did it. That’s a testimony right there. Even David encouraged himself in the Lord when things weren’t going his way, and God gave him instructions on what to do next.
• Completely submit to God. The first reaction when we are faced with challenges is to worry. We worry so much about the situation that we et blocked and can’t seem to see a way out. Then we start to complain, to anyone who’s willing to listen. We wonder how something so bad could happen to someone so righteous. Hmmmmm, we are humans, we like to understand things. But for how long? I like Jason Gray’s song- Sparrow

You can’t add a single day by worrying
You’ll worry your life away
Oh don’t worry your life away
You can’t change a single thing by freaking out
It’s just gonna close you in
Oh don’t let the trouble win

Submitting to God involves complete trust in Him. You are sure that even though you don’t understand the situation, God will definitely work it our for you. You are humble enough to take it to God and allow Him to lead you. Until you completely submit yourself and that situation to God, you might be delaying the answer to your problems.

• Tell people about it. We need to try to have people around us who we can trust to help us through the trial. Not everyone we talk to belongs in this category. Be careful who you tell your situations because some people are happy you’re going through a tough time. The reason it’s important to tell someone is that God might have equipped that person to help and if we never open our mouths, they might never find out. The worst way to deal with a problem is to separate ourselves from people. You don’t have to be lonely. There are people around us. If all they can offer is words of encouragement, it goes a long way. Sometimes, just being there to make you smile is worth it too.

• Praise God. When I first learned about this concept of praising God in the midst of a storm, I was confused. My first reaction was, “you say that coz you have not been there.” Oh, how wrong was I? Praising God is a way of expressing gratitude for what God is about to do concerning that situation. Actually, the devil never knows what to do when we praise God at a time when we should be crying or worrying. It’s like when you’re trying to purposely annoy someone, and they are laughing. I’d be like, shouldn’t you be upset? Why are you still laughing? Be mad at me or something. However, unlike you who would expect your friend to be mad at you for getting you upset, the devil wants you to be mad at God. Isn’t that just sad? You see, the devil never wants to take responsibility for his actions. So, when he sees you praising the God you should be mad at, he’s confused. Let’s take a cue from Paul and Silas who chose to praise at a time when they should be absolutely worried, and we wouldn’t blame them for it. We shouldn’t only praise God because of; we need to learn to praise God in spite of.

Life is beautiful. It gets a whole lot more beautiful when we have God on our side. Learn to lean on a God that will give you peace that passes understanding. Oh, how I love life!!

Love,

Mz_Ola