When God Doesn’t Give Us an Easier Life

Do you ever have mornings when you are tempted to stay in bed and hide from all the hard stuff going on in your life? Mornings when all you want to do is pull the covers over your head because, in all honesty, you don’t want to be an adult today? Maybe you are like me and just want life to be a little easier, but God keeps giving you all these seemingly hard things to tackle. 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, can we have an honest conversation? 

Sometimes, I am not a morning person.  Just ask my husband about yesterday. 

Caregiving is hard, and some days, I don’t do so well. I can get up a little rough around the edges and a little grouchy straight down the middle. Some days, I would rather stay in bed than get up and roll into another day of hard things.  Things that, on our very best days, we would rather send back and get to do our life all over again, leaving out all things called MS. 

These were some of my not-so-glorious moments, so why would I share them? Maybe some of you have them, too, and they make you want to stop trying. Maybe they make you want to pull the covers over your head, too.

So here I am asking some tough questions for both of us.

So what do we do when we feel discouraged with our lot in life because we still fall a little behind despite how hard we try? We open up God’s word and let Brother Paul’s words sink deep enough that they reach our hearts. 

Brother Paul nailed it in Romans 5:2-5 (CSB) as he shared the words to get us started and help us hang tough when we long for easier, carefree days. 

“We have obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions because we know that afflictions produce endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Into this grace, we stand.  Not sit down, quit, turn around, lay down, but gloriously STAND. And not just stand but stand rejoicing in hope. We rejoice in a beautiful expectation that God will work all things for our good. 

But where does such hope come from?

It comes from all those hard things that we often long to be free of and pray with all our might that God would move them out of our way. I guess this is why, most of the time, God chooses not to answer our prayers the way we want Him to.

It is through our hardships, trials, and even our present sufferings that God does His greatest work within us. He builds our character. 

He helps us build Proven Character.  The kind that comes from not living out a pain-free life but one that pushes, stretches, and helps us overcome our flesh.

I can’t speak for you, but I want some of that proven character. It is who we are when no one else is around. It transforms us into the real deal, not just for the world to see but for God to behold. It helps me get out of bed and tackle all my hard things. It is also what helps me keep trying to overcome my flesh on grouchy mornings. 

It doesn’t mean we won’t ever fail, but when we do, it will give us the strength to get back up and try again. God has called us to victory over sin and everything that wants to keep us living in defeat.

Thank God for incredible hope and this amazing thing called Grace for this world doesn’t get to weigh us down when we look to Jesus for our strength. 

Hardships don’t define us. Sin will not have victory over us. 

We are made for more today, sweet friend. 

So get up and dust yourself off.

Put on Grace and Stand! 

Then rejoice in hope that even amid all the hard things, God uses them to make us more like Jesus.