Take your best shot...

     Hey there Monsters, how is your faith walk going?  Is everything flowing well? Are you walking around basking in the sunshine and frolicking with butterflies? Of course your not. Your living your life, your going to work, your dealing with people, you have bills that are due. What you may notice is that these things have less and less power to cause you stress. You are able to withstand and maintain your joy where before you were easily stressed.God is blessing you, doors that were shut are opened, you are finding favor with people, situations are changing for the better.  It is a cake walk, and then it is not. While your  filling  your life with joy, with peace, and with love the enemy is going to do all he can do to trip you up. He is going to throw people, situations, and hardships at you to try and get you to give up, to give in, to turn back.  I warned you monster, this love walk is a battle.

     It never fails, just when you think you have mastered a thing, just when you have finished reading your word, praying, and praising the real world comes in. It would be so easy if we lived in our own self contained bubble. If we didn't have to deal with difficult people, trouble at work,  bills, kids, haters, traffic, broken heels, no sushi at the Japanese steakhouse, and the pothole that tried to take out the front tire on your newly washed truck, but I digress. We can't live in a bubble, we are the light of the world and no matter how hard the wind blows, no matter how much rain falls, no matter how many dumb people come against you, you got to stay lit. 
   

    Here is what it looks like. You love your job, you got the promotion you were praying for, your making more money, with more perks and benefits but your surrounded by idiots. O.k. that was harsh, not idiots, just people that have trouble getting the job done right. So your stressed, your praying at your desk so you can deal with your coworkers and then your computer goes down, your boss is unhappy with some trivial matter, your lunch order is wrong, your phone won't stop ringing, and you should be a firefighter because your constantly putting out fires (probably started by the other idiots in the office). These may not be the trials of Job, but they are trials, this is life. The old you would have hurt some feelings, fired some people, kicked the computer, told off your boss, threw your lunch at the wall, and tweeted about all the fools in your office. The old you would also be unemployed, miserable, and possibly facing criminal charges. Don't be the old you. 

Be the new you. The new you knows Isaiah 43:2 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you." You also know James 1:2-4 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." If that is not enough You can hang out with the Corinthians. "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"

The good news is that no matter what comes against you it can't destroy you. It may tire you out, frustrate you, annoy you, cause you to mutter, but if you stand, if you keep going, if you don't let it trip you up and cause you to sin, it will make you stronger. It will build your faith, strengthen your resolve and you will feel like a superhero. You can look back on it and say "devil, you gonna have to come better than that"