What do you do when you are crushed? How do you react to devastating news? How do you cope in the midst of uncertainties?  Your answer defines your way of living. What we do when a catastrophe strikes makes us or breaks us. One of the most important life skills is to know how to handle hardships.

Mary DeMuth points us into the right direction in her new book The Wall Around Your Heart “So in whatever circumstance we walk, Jesus beckons us toward prayer, toward relationship with Him. The very essence of this prayer welcomes honesty, to let Jesus in on whatever stresses us out.”

Prayer is the first step in every situation.
Prayer is the way of coping with harsh reality.
Prayer is how people of God handle hardships.

Now that  we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get
what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help (Heb. 4:14–16 msg).

Because Jesus knows what we are going through. Because prayer works. Just this afternoon I got disappointing news. Suddenly I could not see how the future would look like. But I did the only thing I knew what to do: I cried to God. I did not get any answers. But somehow in the process I received peace. God is in control of my life no matter of what. God is God and I don’t have to have all the answers. I can rest in his grace and trust “that all things work together for goodfor those who love God (Romans 8:28).

If prayer is our method of handling hardships, we don’t need to build walls around our heart. With the words of Mary “praying this way is preventive; it prevents the walls before we take up bricks.” Prayer is the only way to walk through the world without hardening our hearts. But it works. Beautifully. Time after time.

“Pray lik e this ” is an invitation from Jesus to take your difficult relationships and place them in His hands. It’s a beckoning to give He-who-understands every violation, every terrible memory, every regret. It’s to settle that God is God and we are not. As we begin this adventure of healing in the aftermath of people’s abuse or neglect or terrible words spoken, remember to begin with Jesus, the One who receives our anguish and empathizes. And because He has, by His grace, so will we.”

 

Gracious God,
We so need you.
In everything we do.
Thank you for being
bigger and better
than any of our problems,
heartaches, disasters.
Thank you for being
in control of our lives.
We trust you
and we rest in you.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen

Q4U: How do you handle hardships? Have you experienced miracles through prayer?

Image courtesy of Joel Joseph. Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty, Hear it on Sunday, use it on Monday, Playdates with God, and counting blessings with Ann Voskamp:  #1045 Prayer works. #1046 Prayer heals. #1047 #Prayer is a way to handle hardships. #1048 Prayer changes things.