There is more to life than just this

The past month has proved very challenging for me. It is the first time in my adult life (I'm in my mid-20's) where I've experienced the "when it rains it pours" scenario or what others may call Murphy's Law, "everything that can go wrong will go wrong". Usually I have one thing happen at a time and I've been able to handle things as they came. This time around was different. It's been a mixture of being sick at the most inconvenient of times, job frustration, car troubles, and a busted bathroom sink. All of that within a few week's time was overwhelming for me. I started to wonder what would happen next.

I know my "troubles" over the past month are minor compared to things others have to face day in and day out. This is not a "woe is me" entry this morning. Instead, I'm saying life is hard and it throws curve balls at us every once in a while that we're not ready for. We either take it in stride or we freak out, depending on the circumstances.

As life has become stressful or difficult over the past few weeks, I've been looking to Scripture for encouragement. I've looked in a few different places and this is what I found:

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:11-13, NIV

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:6-7, NIV

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." 2 Corinthians 4:7-10, NIV

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV

These verses have given me strength and encouragement that no one's words of advice could match. Reading these passages in my Bible have helped me see that I'm not the only one going through stuff, that others have it far worse than me and they keep going, and that whatever I'm facing is only temporary. The thing to do, even though it's not easy, is to keep our focus on God. When we focus only on ourselves and what's going on in our own lives, it's like we get tunnel vision and can't see past ourselves or what's right in front of us. However, when we stay centered on Him, everything works out as it should and our burden is not as difficult to carry.

Whatever you are going through, whether major or minor, I hope you find the same encouragement from the above verses as I have, and I hope it gives you strength and encouragement to keep going in the midst of life's circumstances. Because there is more to life than this.