How Do You Face Life?

Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)
“And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”

I was 27 years old when I experienced what I consider to be serious tribulation in my life. Like any young woman, I had experienced my share of ups and downs with relationships in the past, but nothing could prepare me for a new marriage with an abusive husband. He turned on me like something you’d see in a horror film. I thought I knew this man. We had been dating for the longest time, and there were never any signs that I could recognize. I had been so excited about sharing married life together, but almost instantly my dreams were doused. The fact that I had been so wrong about him left me devastated and insecure about my ability to make good judgments. I had no idea that living day to day with my husband would be a constant fight for my mental, emotional, and physical survival.

Like so many individuals, I asked myself, “how can I face life when nothing makes sense anymore?” The person you love most is hurting you and seems to take pleasure in doing so. After our first big argument, I called my mother for advice. She told me to have faith in God and reassured me that everything would be ok. After repeated abuse, those words were no longer real to me. My pain seemed to be so much larger than my faith, and the distance between the two looked too far to bridge. How would God stop my husband from raging out of control? Did I need to change or do something different? This man had already stolen my peace and contentment, did I need to give him even more?

Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. With the confusion and chaos of one trauma after the next, we might feel that we can’t get in touch with our own hearts anymore, but we can. Psalm 46:10(ESV), the Lord tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God.” When we’re unsteady, unsure, and insecure, we should turn our total focus on God. We must find at least five to ten minutes each day to get quiet with our Heavenly Father, and that time should increase as our peace in Him returns. In quieting our souls, minds, and hearts and in praying to God, His peace overtakes us. This will help us to more clearly hear His voice.

God also tells us in Proverbs 3:5(ESV), “and do not lean on your own understanding.” Domestic violence is a tool that evil uses to steal our peace and attack our minds and bodies so that we can’t reason as sharply as we should. We make the mistake of thinking that we can handle everything, but this isn’t true. We desperately need God’s help. He commands us not to lean on our own understanding because there’s no way we can see the big picture. Only God knows our past, present, and future. Proverbs 3:6 tells us to acknowledge Him in all that we do. When acknowledging the awesome power and grace of our God is our goal, He promises to direct our paths. He will set our feet in the right direction so that we can rest in His peace, strength, and love.

We don’t need to wrestle with trusting God. Doubting Him leads us to very dark places. Increasing our faith in God and acknowledging Jesus Christ as the head of our lives is the very necessary change that we must make. God wants us to bask in His love and to trust that He will use His power on our behalves. Our Heavenly Father is the Giver of life. He has predestined life’s course. We are not able to do this, and we must surrender to Him. If our mistakes teach us nothing else, they teach us that God’s purpose prevails, and we should follow His guidance to peace and contentment.

It is not always possible to know all the details of how God will rescue us, but He requires us to trust that He will. This is how we face a life that has been disappointing and devastating, with total faith in God. He is never silent when it comes to answering the prayers of His children, but we must quiet ourselves and listen for His voice. We must not allow the noise of life to cloud our spiritual hearing. Instead, we must trust in the reality that our prayers are never forgotten, and our faith will not fail us. Heavenly Father is with us, and He declares in Psalm 94:14 that He will never leave us. We must not leave Him either.

Stay in the presence of God. Changing your mind and heart so that you are on board with what God wants is so important. He tells us in Hebrews 4:16 to draw near to His throne of grace with confidence. And when we come to Him with this confidence and humility, He’s going to work within us. We desperately need to be transformed on the inside so that we can walk in His glorious light every moment of each day. Trust that God will do this work, and that your life will change when you invite the love of Jesus Christ into every aspect of your being. This is what God promises, and He is forever faithful to His Word. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

“How Do You Face Life?”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.