"You Guys Keep Getting Hit!"
Praising God for the unlikely encouragement of repeated challenges
Yesterday, I woke up sick. Not just “I’m a little tired, let’s make it a low-key day” sick— the kind of sick where being upright isn’t really possible, so life must grind to a halt while you allow your body to heal via sleep and rest.
It was terrible timing. My husband’s final paper for his Master’s degree was due. My 10 year-old was under the weather. Our two year-old has decided that potty training is a hard pass for her. Our garden needs tilled and planted.
And, oh yeah— we had just come off of three solid weeks of people in the house being sick.
“You guys keep getting hit!” a follower shared in a message. “When your husband goes out of the country, it’s just a mess.”
I can’t argue this, because she’s right.
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.—1 Peter 4:12
We are promised a great many things in the Word, and one of them is that our lives will be filled with a steady stream of hardship. Yet, when we encounter people who have obstacles tossed in their path we are shocked. Not only that, we are more likely to point out how they could have avoided the problem, or how sorry we are for their trials.
We have begun to believe, somehow, that the truly blessed among us encounter smooth sailing. It’s the unfortunates of the Kingdom who are saddled with strife.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”—John 16:33
It’s the flesh that gives us these assumptions. A quick peek into Scripture proves it dead wrong. As a matter of fact, Jesus Himself points out that trials are our lot. Tellingly, He doesn’t say He will remove them. Instead, He promises a peace that will settle upon us when we rest in His ultimate overcoming.
Do I enjoy being sick? Oh, my friends, no. I loathe it. The physical sensations are bad enough, but knowing that my husband is bearing an extra burden, knowing that I am absent from the beautiful mundane of this life, knowing that I have added one more thing to someone’s day… I’m not always a patient patient, if you know what I mean.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” —2 Corinthians 12:9
No one wants to be under the weather. No one wants to feel like they have to absorb yet another thing. No one wants to endure trial. We want calm seas, we want easy passage, we want every door to open easily. But this is never promised us because it does not result in the kind of faith that is worth not just dying for, but living for. It is the steady, sustaining hand of Jesus through little things like sick days and big things like brutal persecution that make the Gospel such a treasured, living thing worth preaching to every man, woman, and child we meet.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”—Romans 8:18
Yes, every time my husband travels, we get hit. It’s usually sickness, but it’s been so many other irritants as well: a stove door whose glass burst, water service that was cut off mistakenly, the lockdowns of 2020, a car issue, a frozen bank card.
Though it sounds odd, I praise God for these trials. I hold them up against the news my husband is able to report, I count the cost, and I consider it pure joy. Sick kids? Thirty pastors from closed areas making it to training. Van won’t start? A new believer in a village, bringing that total to two who will not be lost to hell.
As we wait on the glory that is to be revealed, we will all have trials. We will all face opposition. And if you don’t, friend… I’d pause and ask why. Every promise given in the Bible is true. The Lord says we will have troubles. What are yours today, and how can you thank Him?
In Christ,
Heather