Pastor Bill Hayden
Are you at a place in life dealing with issues that you have never had to deal with before ? Now life feels like the bottom is slowly falling out from under you and the tables have been turned on you. Your normal coping methods that got you through some of your challenging times don’t give the results that they once did. The long walks, the round of golf, the tennis matches, pickle ball or reading a book while having a favorite beverage doesn’t hit the mark. You even occasionally attend church, pray and read a few bible scriptures, but nothing seems to provide that reassuring comfort as before.
In the past, you lived relatively free of the burdens and concerns of the mainstream. You heard of other people ‘s troubles and you felt blessed and privileged that you didn’t have to experience their hardships. You never had to worry about being lonely because your life was filled with friends, family and lots of activities. You used to quietly boast about not having the aches and the pains that plagued so many others, but lately things have changed.
Hardships have come your way; do you tell yourself that it’s a way to experience God’s grace and love in a deeper way? Alternatively, do you give in to doubting your faith in God’s willingness to bring you through this season of life?
God isn’t working to keep you from experiencing hardships in life. In essence, He is growing your faith to trust Him, no matter what happens. What He has promised is Himself and what He brings to you is His transforming grace. In grace, He is earnest on delivering you from your greatest, deepest, and most long-term battle…that sinful nature that struggles to keep you from Him. He offers to you amazing grace that transcends those moments of hardship. He has deployed the power of the Holy Spirit in your life to equip and give you eternal value to satisfy your soul.
Sometimes, in hardships, you may be tempted to think that God is loving you less because you are in a hard place… when in fact He is loving you more.
1 Peter 5:10 NKJV May the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
If you are in need of friendship, you can find it in our Chapel. Please join us at the Villages Community Chapel in Cribari Auditorium, every Sunday at 10 a.m. to be encouraged over the Word and enjoy a cup of coffee and cookies with friends. The chapel is a place for needs to be met, faith to be affirmed and new friends to embrace.