Search

Home > The Christian Working Woman > Keeping Faith When Life is Hard
Podcast: The Christian Working Woman
Episode:

Keeping Faith When Life is Hard
Category: Religion & Spirituality
Duration: 00:14:28
Publish Date: 2022-03-19 05:00:50
Description: (As Presented by Lisa Bishop) A few weeks ago I was meeting with a young girl in her 20’s. As we sat together over a cup of coffee I asked her, “How is your faith these days?” As the Director of Women’s Ministry at a church in Chicago I have the privilege of meeting with several women throughout the year. Single women, married women, moms, women in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s. And whenever I meet with them, I always ask the same questions. How are you doing spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically? How is your faith these days? What is an area of your life or character that you sense the Holy Spirit highlighting that he wants to transform? How would you answer those questions? As you can imagine the answers I receive vary and can be answered differently by the same person depending on the season in their life. That is certainly true for me. Yet at the same time the responses I often receive can hold a common theme, particularly when women are struggling in their faith. When a woman admits that she is struggling, I will always ask her, “How is your time with the Lord? How often are you spending time in God’s Word, being present to the Holy Spirit and abiding in Jesus?” Not surprisingly when a woman is feeling distant, despondent and discouraged in her faith, the time she has been spending in the Word meditating on truth …is slim. Now this isn’t a guilt trip or any level of accusation, it’s just…. true. That doesn’t mean that if you have consistent quiet times with the Lord you will be free from struggle, doubt, and trouble. I can attest to that! But when you invest time daily, when you make it a practice, when you create habits of abiding in Jesus through reading and memorizing his Word, prayer, stillness, worship - when you practice these things and the difficult times come when your faith is rocked and challenged, you will have a firmer foundation to stand on as you weather the storms and disappointments in your life. If you are not spending time in the Word of God, the truth of God and his character will not be etched in your mind and heart. If you are not spending time in God’s Word, and in prayer and simply enjoying his presence, you won’t remember the Scriptures to call on in times of hardship, you won’t be able to bring to mind God’s character. And knowing and remembering God’s faithfulness and character is what will help you to cling on to your faith. There is a very dear friend of mine who I have gotten to know over the past two years. She has been married for ten years and has three kids. She is in a really horrible marriage. At a time when her faith was weak she wandered away from Jesus and started dating a man that was not a follower of Jesus. Three children later and her husband is still not a follower of Christ. It is making for a really hard and painful marriage. She has a lot of regret for the decisions she made in the past and as she says… she is experiencing the consequences. And yet… she knows that God is still faithful. To watch her go through marriage trials and maintain her love for and faith in the Lord is truly inspiring. She is one of the most faith-filled joy-filled people I know. She trusts God. Her faith in him and in his character is immovable. Her faith reminds me of 1 Peter 5:7 - Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. In faith, my friend continues to give her hardships and worries to God because she knows his character. She knows he cares. Are there any worries or cares that you are holding onto and not bringing to the Lord? When you come to him he will not neglect you. You can trust him to care for you because it is in his nature. When life does not go the way you planned, and it is a far cry from what you dreamed, it can be tempting to blame and distance yourself from God. I see a lot of people walking away from their faith these days because they are disappointed with their life, and they blame it on God.
Total Play: 0