Lessons from the hard times

  1. I can’t change or control the world around me.  But through Christ, I have a choice about how I respond when things are hard. I can choose to remind myself who I am in Him; or I can choose to try to manage life myself.
  2. I live in a broken world and I am broken.  Doing the ‘right thing’ doesn’t make the bad things stop.
  3. Ordering things on the outside – my body, my house, my diary, my finances – does not make me ordered on the inside.
  4. Disordered thoughts don’t make you a disordered person.
  5. What you think is true may not be.
  6. The most important thing is not stopping the pain.  In fact, the pain can be where God works most.
  7. There is good to be found in every day.
  8. I have felt this before and God has brought me through.
  9. My struggles are part of my story, but they don’t define me.
  10. Keeping silent can kill you.
  11. When I feel emotionally rubbish, I focus on my body and environment. This is a distraction from what’s really important.
  12. Life is frightening and unpredictable.  God is constant, stable and strong.
  13. I am not and never will be perfect.
  14. I am not and never will be beyond God’s grace.
  15. Self-care is not selfish.
  16. There are shades of grey; it’s not all or nothing.
  17. Tomorrow is too much – but it’s not here yet and when it comes, God has got it with me.
  18. You can’t move forwards by trying to go backwards.  You’ll never go back to who you were; good and bad.  But there’s good ahead and a God who is with us through the challenges too.
  19. Even this can be redeemed.

 

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9 thoughts on “Lessons from the hard times

  1. Thanks Emma :-)
    Much-needed wisdom, glad you shared these thoughts. In the middle of anxiety and low mood, everything can seem just awful and like it won’t be right again. But it’s such a relief to remember that God is good and faithful and has enough grace even to cope with my mental chaos!

  2. Thank you so much for sharing these words of truth! This post was God’s perfect way of speaking truth to me right when needed. :)

  3. Thanks Emma. I needed to hear that right now. Feeling anxious a lot at the moment, and feeling trapped in my role as a wife and mother, especially as my eldest is on the autistic spectrum and has struggles at school. It’s so easy to feel alone and weak and useless.

  4. Hi Ginny – I’m so sorry things are tough right now. You’re not alone; and you may be weak, but God uses the weak things to shame the strong. Praying for encouragement and perseverance for you.

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