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I am so excited for this Summers Tune In Thursday Guest Blogs!  Y’all, are in for a special treat, as we have some very special guests joining us over the summer each week.

 

Julie is our first guest and  love her heart to be real about life’s messes and challenges.  On her about page, Julie writes, “As I’ve trusted in the hard over and over again, God is slowly replacing my defaults and deficiencies into strengths and wisdom.”  I like that about her.  She doesn’t try to hide the messes, she faces them straight on, and even shares with us, in hopes we too can move forward.

I don’t know about you, but I can relate to her opening statement below.. “The last few years have been the hardest of my life …

Can you relate?

Maybe you are in that season right now.  Or maybe it’s been years, but you know what she’s talking about.  Either way, Julie shares some very powerful tools to help us have faith in the hard difficult seasons of life.

Thank you Julie, for sharing your heart with us today at Tune In Thursday.  I encourage you to leave a comment  for Julie, and don’t forget to link up your posts below.

Enjoy and Blessings,

Debbie 

 

God Never Promised Easy, Where’s your Faith

in the Hard?

Guest Post By: Julie Loos

 

Julie Loos is the mom of 5 kids and has been happily married to Greg for 17 years.

She loves to read, eat chocolate, drink iced tea and spend time writing in the midst of messes.

 

You can find her blog at www.unmaskingthemess.com.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unmaskingthemess/

Twitter: @juliealoos

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliealoos/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/julieanneloos/

The last few years have been the hardest of my life. Deaths, sickness, addiction, family estrangement, and moving are just a few examples that I can recall quickly. I can look back now and say they have brought me to greater faith. However, during those moments, I questioned what the heck God was doing. I found it takes great faith in hard times.

When a loved one dies unexpectedly, it hurts, and our human minds can’t comprehend the good that can come out of it. We’re told to believe what we can’t see, but all we see and feel is our loss.

Actually, in each of the scenarios I listed above, it’s difficult to understand how God can work it together for us, the ones who love Him.

Have you ever questioned how God could take this extreme pain and turn it into good?

We have answers to some of these issues in the Bible about faith in hard times.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28, NLT).

 

Debunking the Myth

When I was a child and even young adult, I viewed God as a superhero. Like Spiderman, He would rush in and save the Christian people and banish the evil people. He would maintain order and not let bad things befall His followers. God would be ever vigilant to keep peace at bay, and we wouldn’t have to worry about danger affecting our lives.

To put it another way, I decided that since He loved His sheep, He wouldn’t let anything bad happen to them. He would keep them safe whatever the cost since He’s the Good Shepherd.

Or how about I expected that the Creator of the Universe to keep me from all distress, hurts and other bad things. I mean, He has complete control over everything so shouldn’t He keep me safe since I am following Him?

The cornerstone question is: Shouldn’t His followers be taken care of and let the real evil people suffer instead?

Don’t my expectations sound horrible now that I’ve admitted and written them down? Tell me I’m not the only one who has felt this way?

 

Faith in Hard Times

The last few years have set my false beliefs on their head. I’ve had to toss them away and look deep into God’s word to replace my expectations with God’s truth. Sometimes it’s painful to debunk what you had thought previously.

I’ve been surprised, frustrated and anxious during these times because it seems like evil keeps descending into my life. Anger at God has been a common reaction in the past.

Don’t we all want a break from the trying times and yet they seem to come in succession one after the other?

 

Wrong Assumptions and Expectations

Is it just me, or have you been on the presumption that when following Christ life should be easy? I’m wondering where I got this belief because it’s not Biblical according to John 16:33.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world (NLT).

God never said life would be easy, in fact, He said the opposite as supported by the passage from John. The problem is we can grasp this fact until hard befalls us and then we question and become frustrated.

God tells us to take heart which means to be confident and courageous during these times of trials and sorrows because God is the victor and we will share in that victory when we reach Heaven.

If you’re like me, you don’t equate love with pain. If God loves me, then why does He allow pain? As a mom, I try to prevent pain from befalling my kids because I love them. However, sometimes for them to learn and grow, I have to allow them some grief.

It’s hard for me to watch and it hurts me too to see my kids suffer, but its part of the growing process. How is our growth any different?

 

Pain in Growth

I have to anchor my heart to the promise found in Romans 8:28, God is working it all out together, the good, the bad and the painful. He is doing something bigger than I can see with my human eyes. God has the whole picture, and I have just snippets of understanding in my humanness.

He is using the difficult seasons to grow, change and refine us. God doesn’t want us to think we’re changing by ourselves, in our own accord, so He makes us search Him out during these times.

 

 

We long for what we had before sin entered into the picture.
Maybe it’s tough for us to accept the trying times because our heart desires and longs for goodness. God made us in His image, and He is without evil, pain or suffering, therefore, we expect these things to stay away. Before the Fall into sin, there was the absence of:

• Pain
• Death
• Sickness
• Broken hearts
• Hurt feeling
• Family instability
• Broken marriages
• Cancer

Could it be that in our hearts we know life should be different? There should be an absence of all the things that cause us such turmoil? Do we long for how it used to be?

Here’s the thing, if the Fall hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t need a Savior to save us from evil.

 

 

7 Ways to have Faith in Hard Times

 

• Remember God is in control and He hand filters what we go through.
• God is working it out for our good; we need to hold tightly to this promise.
• Pray for perseverance, endurance, and acceptance of what happens.
• Seek out God’s wisdom via prayer and His word.
• Trust God; He is stable and unchanging.
• Spend time in His word and His presence.
• Walk in faith and surrender to what He plans for your life.

 

Cling to Faith in Hard Times

When we begin to become frustrated at God for the tough times, let us remember what He has done in the past. Throughout the pages of the Bible, we see Him helping, guiding and leading His people. God has never broken and promise and He never will.

What hard things has He kept from reaching us? When we look back over our life from Heaven, from what did God protect us? We get mad at what happens, but do we thank Him for what He prevents?

 

 

We will see the changes and growth through some of the situations that have affected us in life and others we will see what effects they produce from Heaven. We can be assured by reading Hebrews 11 that God stands behind each one of His promises. Everyone who has ever believed in Him will get a reward for the struggles and pain in this earthly life.

 

All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us (Hebrews 11:39-40, NLT).

 

God never promised easy, but He promised to walk with us, never leave us or forget about us. We can anchor to this truth in faith in the midst of our hard season.

To trust God in the light is nothing, but trust him in the dark-that is faith. ~Charles Spurgeon

 

 

Again Welcome and Thank you for joining me for #TuneInThursday it is an honor to have you here!

I have had a few people ask for a badge/button to display on your blogs.  I would absolutely be honored if you would display it, or link back here in some way.  Thank you!

 

Tune In Thursday

 

Now let’s get this party started, feel free to link 1-3 posts:

 

 

 

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Do you wonder if God still speaks today?  Do you wonder if He would ever speak to you personally?  Do you long to hear the voice of God in your life?

Have your read other books on hearing from God, but long for hands on practical application? or are you looking for ways to  move you forward  hearing from God?

If you answered YES to any of those questions, then I have exactly what you need.  I now have an online e-course designed to equip you in understanding that God still speaks today, and He longs to speak directly to you, through His word, and others.  He longs to encourage you, strengthen you and comfort you.  The training on this site, is fully based on Scripture, and taken from my training manual Releasing God’s heart through Hearing His Voice. 

I have been teaching these classes internationally for the last 10+ years equipping and training believers in discerning the Ways God speaks.  God is speaking, Can you Hear Him?

2. My new membership site, d2htrainging.com has official opened, I invite you to check it out today, and develop a deeper relationship with the Lord, as you learn to hear Him speak to your heart.

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Several Submissions have been featured at Blessed Transgressions, an Online Magazine:

Balancing the Warrior & the Princess We’re Called to Be

Who we Are and Whose We Are

Trusting God When it Seems Illogical

Will You Sit with Me? (Jesus is Calling.)

My Post “Climb Every Mountain” was featured in the August monthly link-up at : Life on Intention Link-up Party

My Post: The Power of your Story was featured here:

My Post “What’s in a Name?” was featured here:

The Luke 2:52 Project

My Post: “Will You Sit with Me?” was featured here:

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