When Life Seems Too Much To Handle

What happens when life seems just too much to handle, when we feel we are at that jumping off point? Life is certainly not easy. While it is a gift from God, because of the broken world we live, we still face a variety of challenges, sometimes on a daily basis. Often life doesn’t seem fair. Sometimes it is simply hard and seemly malicious. The challenges we face often appear insurmountable. But are they?

Certainly we are forced to make difficult decisions as well as take arduous actions. All too often we feel trapped and see no way forward. Unpleasantness and despair seem like our constant companions. Faith and hope are so distant that we can’t even imagine what life might be like with them as our rock and guide. God is a vague concept that perhaps once existed in our life, but now seems distant and abstract. This is a point in life in which we face the harsh crossroads of faith. Do we continue to believe in the benevolence of God, or do we search for the answers to our life’s problems elsewhere?

This is an important place in our life. Faith is the hard road, while the other path is much smoother and easier. With what do we fill that hole in our soul? The choice is ours to make, but deep down in our hearts if we have had any kind of relationship with God, we know the answer. The easy path leads us into all kinds of dysfunction and unhealthy lifestyles, while the path of faith leads us through trial and tribulation, but ultimately to a healthier and stronger relationship with God.

So what happens when our faith has run dry? Do we automatically take the path of least resistance or do we trust in the God that we no longer believe and take the path less travelled. The emptiness in our lives demands to be filled and the path of least resistance offers us all sorts of unhealthy ways. But they are short lived and soon become a burden themselves adding to the ones that we already carry.

The path of faith is the correct choice. Even though we feel distant from God, perhaps even angry with God, in our hearts we know this is the route that will fill our souls with spiritual fortitude and grace. But pride sometimes won’t let us take the faith path. Our egos are fragile and easily hurt, thus we rebel against the God in which we no longer believe and strike out on our own, determined to find peace in our own way. Many have tried to carve their own path or take the easy route in order to fill their hearts with something, anything that will kill the pain in which we live and exist. We soon find that we are in more trouble than ever before. Our lives have become miserable, lost and full of anxiety. Alcohol and drugs no longer relieve our pain; promiscuous activity no longer fills our need for real love. Perhaps we have even turned to other religions that are incapable of filling our hollow hearts. It is then (if we are fortunate enough) that we lay aside our pride and ego and look to the true Living God for help.

Jesus reminds us that he is the way, the truth and the life. It is through him that we come to the Father. Christ welcomes back the lost and spiritual destitute. He embraces us even if we are still skeptical. His is the peace that passes all understanding and through that peace we find refuge and hope. We are redeemed and renewed by his body and blood. The gift of forgiveness is there for us to merely accept without any strings attached. Gradually our faith is renewed as we begin to relax and trust God again. That hole in our soul is filled with God’s grace and we come to believe in the same God we had forsaken.

Life is difficult enough in this broken world, but if we forsake our spiritual lives and practices it becomes much more difficult. Remember, faith is an action verb. It requires us to actively participate. To grow in faith and our relationship with God we can’t just sit there passively. If we do so many spiritual opportunities will pass us by, and we will not only remain in that same spiritual void, but actually regress as well. It is then that we come to that jumping off point. So exercise faith, even when it is trying and difficult. God is present and will ultimately reveal Gods self in our lives.