How To Love Jesus When Shiz Gets Hard

We all can be dramatic sometimes. We all can make things worse than they really are.

Take me for example. My dad has a swollen lymph node in his neck. First thing I thought? Cancer. Second thing I thought? I’ll never see him again.

Now that is dramatic. But let’s get real for a second: life can get real freaking hard sometimes.

Shiz can hit the fan.

Anxiety builds, fears pile up and bad things seem to be at every corner you turn.

Those moments where we don’t get the job we thought we had in the bag, and we think the worst. Or we got one stupid B-, which takes the GPA down .00007 points and our whole life might as well be over.

Small stuff happens day after day until suddenly, those positive thoughts of a bright future and overcoming failures, turn to negative ones. Shame becomes your middle name. Suddenly you’re a failure with no future.

And then sometimes, the real shiz hits the fan. Like a breakup or a diagnosis, a job loss or another friendship lost. And then those lies of worthlessness and shame and failure quickly become the truth.

You feed yourself those lies until they become your daily bread.

You feed yourself those lies until you believe them. 

So why is it so hard to love Jesus when shiz gets hard? When times get tough?

Well because, it is hard to believe Him after all the crap we’ve fed ourselves.

It is hard to believe that Someone created us to love and to be loved when we can barely look at our reflection without noticing every flaw. It is hard to believe that our Heavenly Father cares for us and our every breath when we can barely whisper grace upon ourselves in the first place.

I had two people ask me to write about how to love Jesus when life gets hard or troubles come.

And the only thing I could think of that you can do?

We have to believe Him.

We have to believe that He is good. That He is a healer. That He is our comforter. That He knows every hair on our heads. That He created us to be more than just another face in the masses. That He has a purpose for every mess, for every hurt, for every piece of shiz you face.

So how do you love Jesus when times get hard?

Believe He is who He says He is. 

Catch the lies you tell yourself.
Catch the lies then replace every lie with His truth.

Take every stinkin’ thought captive until the only thing you have left to say is Jesus. 

I can’t lie to you. It is hard to love Jesus when all I want is for my dad to be healed or my grandpa to finally see again. It is hard to love Jesus when every corner I turn seems to push me 6 steps backwards.

It will always be hard to love Jesus because things like cancer and breakups and broken families were never His will for our lives. This broken world we live in isn’t the world He created, this place isn’t the place He wanted for you and for me.

So we have to believe Him when He says He is good. We have to believe Him when He says His love can conquer any pain.

We have to believe that He is bigger than any crap we face.

And we have to make the choice to believe it every single day. 

So start now. Believe His truths now. And speak that truth every day of your life- through the thick and thin of life, believe it.

See you soon,

Stephanie Lynn