But, It's Hard

As I wrote yesterday, God has me in this place where I am walking through some really hard stuff relationship wise.

One part of this is addressing areas of hurt that happened years ago. I'm not certain that it is going to involve dissecting each and every little thing that happened, but it will definitely involve me actively humbling myself and trying to empathize with the other person's point of view. Trying to love them and hear them, even though I have adamantly felt like they were the one that ultimately did wrong for a long time.  

The other part is within a relationship where there is constant conflict. Yet, God is not giving me permission to do what I am best at: walking running away. He is telling me that He will fight for me, as it says in Exodus 14:14, and that I am to be still. He is telling me that I don't have to defend myself and He is showing me that although this conflict hurts me over and over, I still have a huge role in the situation.

Did mention that this is going to be hard? Oh, I did? Well, I just wanted to make sure it was clear.
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Sometimes, I think that maybe if I can convince God that what He's asking of me is too hard, then He'll let me off the hook. But, it doesn't really work that way. Life on this side of eternity is supposed to be hard. That happened long ago, when Adam and Eve sinned. God didn't throw in the towel though. He didn't say, "Okay, Adam. Okay, Eve. You messed up. But, life outside the garden is going to be too hard for you. So..... let's just ignore what happened and you can stay. Okay? But, just try not to do that again."

Nope. They were evicted.

So, I think about that and the hard things I'm about to walk right through.

And then I'm reminded of something a friend told me this week. Psalm 23:4 says, "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." 

David didn't say "Even though I walk around the darkest valley..."

Through.

We walk through things. But our comfort in this is that God is WITH us. 

Does that sound familiar? That was what the pastor was talking about on Sunday. God is not going to tell us to go through something without being right there with us through it all.

That's how He rolls. 
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So, no. I can't skip the hard stuff. 

But, I can go through it with an awesome God.