Earlier this month, we talked about hitting rock bottom. As we saw in DJ Hernandez’s film, as well as our blog, everyone reaches the end of their rope at some point. It doesn’t matter what your background or circumstances are; sometimes when it rains, it pours. It’s in those moments, when we’re at our weakest, that it’s tempting to forget all that God has done – we want to know what he’s going to do now.
But what if we could change the way we handle these situations? What if there were practices we could already have in place that helped us find shelter and peace when life’s storms roll in?
As we saw from DJ’s story, there are things we can do and things we can avoid that will help us deal with life’s problems in a healthier way. Here are my five tips on how to not be overcome by life’s storms.
I feel like this is one of the easiest things we all tend to do when we become overwhelmed. We don’t want to share when things aren’t going well in our lives. Some of us don’t want to feel like a burden to other people, some of us don’t want to admit that something in our lives isn’t perfect and some of us are just embarrassed to be in the position we’re in. So we bottle it up, we try to busy ourselves to escape it – we do everything but invite someone in to help. When we isolate, it’s easy to become hyper-focused on our problem, which then makes it easier to believe the lie that there’s no way through. We start to become self-dependent and make decisions from our limited viewpoint and resources – we forget that God is in control.
When hardships happen, tell your closest friends and family. Don’t try to hide it or run from it. Your community will help you pray through it and stay encouraged. Life is hard, and that’s why God gave us community. He knew that we would need people to do life with – you weren’t made to go through life alone.
We all struggle with this. Life gets busy, rest is hard to come by and waking up early feels like the last thing we want to do. Being consistent in your faith walk isn’t something that just happens when you’re not looking. You have to be intentional with your time and make it a priority. For a majority of this year, I’ve tried to be intentional about not looking at my phone or doing anything else in the morning before I spend time with God. It was hard to break habits at first, but now it’s almost second nature to me, and I can feel the difference when I let myself get lazy. I miss that time with God.
So no matter what your current routine looks like, I invite you to join me in working on being intentional about your prayer life and time with God. Make it a priority and I’m sure you will experience a difference.
As we saw with DJ, who he spent his time with had a major impact on the way he lived his life. In high school he had a solid friend group of believers that helped him live out his faith. In college, however, that group was gone and he made friends with people who were living a double life. They weren’t committed to their faith walk and ultimately led him into a lifestyle that wasn’t good. We all face this challenge. We’re called to love everyone and you should never reject someone just because they have different beliefs, but those friends shouldn’t be the ones advising you during difficult times. Jesus loved everyone, but he only shared his life with a handful of people. They weren’t perfect and they messed up, but they were committed to their faith and lived it out. That’s the kind of community we should be part of.
A great place to find community is at church. Hebrews 10:25 tells us that it’s important to come together for worship. But showing up on Sunday mornings isn’t enough. That would be like plugging your phone into the charger for an hour once a week and expecting that charge to last until the next week. It isn’t going to get you very far. But when you’re involved – whether it’s volunteering for events, helping with the children’s ministry, singing in the choir or leading a Bible study – that’s where you find your community and make friendships that God will use to encourage you. It’s also where God will use you to encourage others. Being involved in church helps you stay accountable and helps you continue to learn and grow in your walk.
As we saw with DJ, his life really started to turn around when someone further along in their walk started walking with him. The bad news about life is that we will go through hard times. The good news about life is that God has a purpose for those hard times and he has placed people in our lives to help us. He’s never going to allow you to go through something just for you to go through it. We’re supposed to learn the lesson and then turn around and help someone else through it. That thing you’ve overcome – whether it’s an addiction, a loss or a trauma – gives you the ability to help someone else. And if you’re in the middle of something, there is someone who has already come through the other side that can help you.
Actively seek out someone who has walked the path you’re on that is willing to help you navigate, and also look for someone that you can help. Pray that God will send these people into your life.