This Isn't the End: How to Faithfully Face Hardship

I met with a very successful client this week and he asked me a serious question. He asked, “How much more can I take?” He had just lost the third executive from his team. They all joined one of his competitors. The way he said it made me think that he doesn’t realize that everyone has hardships. Actor and comedian Drew Carey once said, “Just because you’re a celebrity and you have money doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen to you or you don’t have bad days. Everybody’s a person.” And often, it doesn’t even happen to go wrong, we just think it does. And as we think negatively about it, our minds make it worse than it really is.

Do you remember a moment when something went wrong, and your mind immediately ran it all the way out. An awkward conversation becomes 'this relationship is over'. I used to see it when I coached baseball. A bad game became 'I’ve lost it; I just don’t have it anymore'. One setback becomes 'this is how it all falls apart'. That is where my client was. He didn’t just feel the moment, he owned it. And he crowned it and let it become the last thing, not just the worst thing for the moment.

Things will shake us culturally and personally. Conflict, confusion, even collapse happen in life. The worst things really do happen. But they are not the last thing.

A local newspaper talked about a man who was struck by and nearly killed by a car. When he recovered, he found that his entire perspective on life changed. He no longer put off enjoying life, but he began to savor the simple blessings that come every day—like drinking a great cup of coffee. I also found this to be true when I survived cancer that was supposed to be deadly. Simply talking with my grandchildren, going for a walk, seeing a spectacular sunrise, sunset, or enjoying a piece of chocolate became a blessing.

But it shouldn’t take a life-threatening situation for us to embrace the simple attitude of joyful thanksgiving. A man by the name of Thomas Watson wrote, ”Our thanks are due for little blessings as well as for great. The hand of God is to be acknowledged in the smallest gift.” And another philosopher named Hannah Smith said, “The little things of life, though small in themselves, are often of the greatest importance in revealing God’s love.” No matter what is going on around us, we should view each day as special, precious and sacred. We should take time each day to thank God for today and for today’s blessings.

The Israelites were seeking to enter the promised land after 40 years in the desert. They sent some spies who returned with some disturbing news: the land was occupied by giants, a seemingly insurmountable problem. The spies had a fear of the unknown and they felt that they needed to challenge the problem on their own strength. Joshua, their leader, gave this response: "Do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey." Joshua knew that God was with them. He remembered the miracles that led them away from Egypt and sustained them in the wilderness.

We see those giants in our own lives. We see situations that seem impossible to overcome. We also forget how God has blessed us in the past. He does not promise us an easy life, and He does not keep us from trials and conflicts. Because those conflicts shape us. Our faith is strengthened by those situations, and we get to understand that dependence on God is where our focus should be. We need to look at challenges we face not through our own frailties but in the secure knowledge that we have an amazing and faithful God who is with us every step of the way.

My Grandfather was a farmer. Thinking of him, led me to think of him standing in the middle of his field in the springtime. The ground is very soft and messy—unpredictable. But weather shifts. And nothing in the spring looks finished. But my grandfather didn't stand there demanding clarity about how the crops will look on harvest day. He just kept on sowing, knowing that this moment—all muddy and uncertain is not the last thing.

Likewise, people who don’t panic when the world trembles and don’t treat every story as the end of the story (the last thing) move forward rooted, faithful, and confident. After our consultation, my client decided to contact one of his team members that left the company to see if he was happy where he went to work. An amazing thing happened—the employee decided to come back to the company of my client. He also brought in two others from another company. You see, the situation was not the last thing. It wasn’t even the worst thing.

A man named Thomas Watson once said, "It is a good thing to be thankful… Here on earth, he gives us mercies only in small quantities; the greatest things are laid up in heaven."