Blessed in the Rough and Hard Times

“We all long for heaven where God is, but we have it in our power to be in heaven with Him right now, to be happy with Him at this very moment. But being happy with Him now means loving like He loves, helping like He helps, giving as He gives, serving as He serves, rescuing as He rescues, being with Him twenty-four hours a day, touching Him in His distressing disguises.”

-Mother Theresa, No Greater Love

We all go through difficult times. Yesterday, many of us were deeply saddened by the bombings in Boston. As we go through the difficult times, we often wonder the question “Why?” I have often been angry and frustrated at God for allowing me to go through so many difficult times. As I watch the news of such senseless acts that cause despair to so many, I ask God why these things happen.

But what I have come to learn (and I do not have all of the answers) is that God allows those things to happen for purposes that we may never find out on our time here on earth. I may never know why I was abused and neglected for so many years. I may never know why my oldest brother committed suicide. I may never know why I have to relive traumatic experiences through flashbacks multiple times a day. We may never fully understand why there were bombs at the Boston marathon.

I feel called to trust God, even in those difficulties, even in the times when I am unsure of the answers to my questions.

I often tell people that I do not want their pity, because God has blessed me, even through my difficult times. Growing up poor has allowed me to learn to be careful with my money and made me more appreciative of what I do have. Growing up in an abusive home has made the unconditional and genuine love of God more apparent and more meaningful to me than I think it would be without being abused. Growing up in a home in which I watched my family members get arrested for drug abuse, alcoholism and dealing drugs allowed me to gain the motivation to never touch drugs or drink alcohol.

Through each of our struggles, we can find blessings if we look at it from another perspective.

That does not mean it is easy by any means. I still have days in which the memories become so strong that I just want to curl up in a ball and weep. There are days in which I am tempted to become depressed and become more focused on the negative than the positive that God has done in my life. There are still days in which I want to scream at God on a mountaintop, in which I want to yell at God for the difficulties He has allowed me to go through. I want the answers to my questions.

I believe that it is okay to be angry at God. He never promised that our lives would be easy. But what is important is that we do not spend all of our time in that anger and that we move forward, trying to see what good can come out of our struggles and obstacles.

One of the greatest blessings that can come out of our struggles is empathy, the ability to relate to others on a deep level. Empathy usually involves understanding and feeling what the other person is going through in some way that is unattainable if you have not gone through a similar situation.

When I was going through a period of homelessness, I went on a mission trip to help build homes for those who could not afford to pay for a home or to have them fixed. As I worked on building that home, I truly felt and understood the needs of the people whom we were building the home for, since I did not have a home myself. My empathy towards the family whom we were building the home for had a very important meaning to me. I have talked to many people over the years who were going through similar things that I have gone through. Even though I did not fully understand what they were feeling, it was and still is a tremendous blessing to be able to talk from experience.

Through our struggles, we are better able to relate to others.

“I think that if we go to the poor with love, with only the desire to give God to them, to bring the joy of Christ (which is our strength) into their homes, if they look at us and see Jesus and His love and compassion in us, I think the world will soon be full of peace and love.”

-Mother Theresa, No Greater Love

As we heal and recover from the bombings in Boston, I hope that we can focus on the positive instead of the negative. This world is a scary place and evil things happen within it, but we must remember that we serve a genuine, strong, powerful, and loving God. His love can overcome anything we face on this earth. I hope that we can share the love, hope and peace we find in God with those around us, especially in this great time of need. I hope and pray that with negative events like the one yesterday occurring more often, we realize the great need for God in our world today. I hope that we can walk into our future together, bringing peace and love into a world crying out for them.

We may never know why negative things happen in our world, but we do know that God holds this world and that good will overcome.

“Be not overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”

-Romans 12:21 (KJV)

Let us spread the message of love.