They were in trouble, so they called to the Lord for help,
and he saved them from their troubles.  He stopped the storm and calmed the waves.. Psalm 107 verses 28 &29″ ERV

Frustrations of life come and go, but our faith remains strong if we allow ourselves to grow from them.

I work from home and most people will say that it is an ideal situation. Yes and no. You see, I have to work remotely and sometimes technology gets the better of you. Today is one of those days and this selling season has been very trying. Since I am in sales, you get into a certain rhythm in sales. But I guess whatever your work is, all of us get into the rhythm of what we do. When that rhythm is thrown off for whatever reasons there are, it is hard to get back into it. This is what’s happening to me with the techie aspect of my work.
You see this in sports and particularly Football. When a defense is constantly getting to the opposing team’s quarterback, you see the rhythm of that quarterback fly out the window. If the offense can’t adjust to what the opposing team’s defense is doing, then they will surely lose the game.
The same holds true for us. When life throws us off-balance, it is time to go back to basics. I know that the technological problems of my work are nothing compared to some life experiences that have been very trying. But I do have to pay bills and feed my family.                                                                                                            As I write this, I am thinking of work and how I will need to most likely find another job that will have less problems with their tech systems and this truly has me very disappointed because I like what I do.

Here is a list of my basics. They have helped me through the toughest of situations:

1. My faith is in Christ. As simple as this is, let me repeat this, my faith in Christ is the most important thing I have in life. The saving grace of knowing that Jesus died on the cross is what keeps giving me hope that I am not alone on this journey. This saving, graceful, hopeful faith gives me the strength that things in this life are only temporary and desperate situations only last for a season. When I put things into perspective, I realize that my storms will soon go away.

2. I find that I can’t have faith and trust in God without being able to give Him all of my praises, my love and my life problems. Sometimes I forget the order and that is when I need to really get on my knees and thank Christ for what He did on the cross for me.                                                                                                              You see, our problems are and have always been His, it’s just that we tend to keep them to ourselves. Jesus took all my problems and sins to the cross and stretched out His hands so wide, in order for Him to take them all.                                              Let me repeat what I just said, Jesus died on that cross because of our sins and our afflictions. He took these with Him and, therefore, we need not worry about them.
It is when we realize the things He did for us, that we can’t help but raise our hands in triumph and thankfulness to the One that can help us see the problems through.
True praise and worship will then be a natural thing. Which will lead to:

3. After genuine praise and worship of my Lord and Savior, the natural thing to do is talk with Him. I am not just talking about watered down prayers that we have made into habitual protocols in order to fulfill our daily obligations to God. I am talking about the life-giving, quench your thirst kind of communication with God. The kind that will leave you speechless, breathless and joyful.                                                           The kind that when you actually thank God for being who He is, you realize that you can speak to Him about anything in your life. Go ahead, I dare you to do that, tell Him all your deepest and darkest secrets. Tell Him how you really feel, don’t worry, it’s not like He hasn’t already heard or known about them. You see, true prayer comes in many forms.                                                                                                       But the true form of prayer is this, that we acknowledge that God is there, that we acknowledge what He has done for us through His salvation. That we then being filled with such joy of knowing what He has done for us, thank Him with a contrite and joyful heart. Then and only then can we give Him our dreams and our problems. You see, we were made to worship God. We are beings who look to worship Him but have lost our ways.                                                                                                                       This is where you see humans worshiping work or sports teams or music bands or politicians. When we finally realize that the most important thing in life is to worship God. The extension of the revelation of knowing God is our priority, will put us in a natural and full communication with the God who saves us, comforts us, leads us beside still waters and will never leave us nor forsake us.                                                                                                When I revisit those things, I know that God will take care of everything. When I remind myself that He is taking care of all my burdens, it is then and only then that I am truly grateful and joyful to be called by His name. It is then and only then that all I could do is say, “Thank You Lord, I know You have this covered!”

So whatever you are going through, whatever you feel today, don’t trust people to see you through it, trust in the only One that can do something about it. Trust in the One that gave up His life for you. Trust in the God that is love and grace. When you do this, you will see the light at the end of the tunnel. Because that is where the God of Light is waiting to take the batons of life that you are carrying from You, grab them from your hands and place them upon Himself to take those heavy burdens away.