The Struggle Is Real

The struggle is real. I hear people use this cliche often but have you ever really thought about why you struggle. We have all faced difficult challenges in life. I recall when my husband and I first started our family. We were young adults in love with little pay and two low income jobs. We lacked financial management and lived paycheck to paycheck. I would say the struggle was real. We both began to take on new adventures in an effort to improve our financial situation. Yeah, the struggle was real. However, it wasn’t until we realized we could not pay our rent, and all of our credit cards were maxed that the struggle was truly real. We decided it was time to seek help. Yep, we did not want to have a life where we worked hard just to make it. We wanted to truly live! Coincidentally, not really, it was God answering our prayers. Our church offered a financial class to help educate on financial management. We attended and learned a lot very quickly. It changed our life forever. I’ll tell more about that later.

However, the struggle was real but the entire time God was still there teaching us valuable lessons. Phil. 4:19 states, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Through this struggle, we learned that God will always provide. We always had a roof over our head and food to eat. No it wasn’t a place of our own but we had a wonderful supportive family that welcomed our new family. No we could not afford to dine at fancy downtown Charleston restaurants or take extravagant trips around the world, we ate 10 pack tacos, nachos supreme with extra sour cream and rented a .99cent movie from Blockbuster. Yes the struggle was real. But during this struggle we also learned how to enjoy each other. We took for granted how precious time really was and focused on “things” which caused a mountain of debt versus spending $5 and making priceless memories. Yes the struggle was real but I wouldn’t trade the struggle for anything.

In these difficult times, God is still there and teaching you to have faith and trust Him. The struggle is real because it’s teaching you real life lessons. In your struggle, look for God and learn a lesson so you don’t have to struggle in the same way!

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28