Life Can Be Hard (By Pam Scott)

Life can really be hard sometimes, can’t it? I’m so often reminded of that when a person shares with me their heartbreak over a strained or broken relationship.
  
I’m reminded that life is hard when an innocent child is taken advantage of, and abused by an uncaring adult. Life can be hard when a teen turns their back on everything they’ve been taught and walks away from the Lord, pursuing the path of the world.
  
Life can be hard when our body reminds us we aren’t getting any younger, and we can’t do the things we used to. Life can feel out of control when the demands feel bigger than the 24 hours we are allotted in a day.
  
Or maybe life has become hard as you watch a loved one’s health fail, and you wonder if things will ever get better.
  
Life is hard when we have to bury a young one because of a tragic accident or incurable disease.
  
I know that we can all add to this list. But let me encourage you with a verse that has meant a lot to me. Nehemiah 8:10b reminds us that, “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” I encourage each of us to focus on the joy that comes from knowing and walking with Jesus. Take some time today to make a list of those things for which you are thankful. And when those hard times come, we can rely on the joy of the Lord being our strength.
  

So today, choose God’s joy, and be strengthened even through the hard times, because “the joy of the Lord is my strength.”