Hope In Hardship
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Hope In Hardship
Hardship is something that can seem like it is never ending in life but often it is a temporary situation or a season that we go through.
Don’t get me wrong some people seem to experience hardship throughout their whole lives but often those are the people that learn to bring the most beautiful experiences out of life.
For many, hardship comes and goes at different times in our lives.
But often people will look at hardship as a negative thing that needs to be avoided at all costs and escaped as soon as possible.
Nobody ever enters hardship with excitement or joy!
Enduring Hardship
Well, I say nobody, yet the Apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy in the Bible, encourages him to endure hardship. James also refers to hardships as trials and encourages the church to rejoice when facing trials.
This seems ludicrous!!!
Yet this advice, is maybe not as crazy as it seems.
Often we view hardship as something to be avoided but often hardship can be the place where creativity is born. It can be the place where you discover new gifts, abilities or strength.
Many inventions have come out of hardship. Many discoveries have been made. Most if not all successful people have had to go through hardship before experiencing their breakthrough.
I remember when my wife was pregnant with our first child.
I was in a hip-hop band trying to get our big break and she worked a full time job for the council.
One day while I was away gigging, she phoned me and told me that she wanted to quit work after we had the baby! This was a shock to me because she was the main wage earner in the family.
For a minute I went silent on the phone as my mind imagined the forthcoming hardship that we would face, if my wife went ahead with her threat!
I know, I am being over dramatic, but at the time I wasn’t ready to face that assumed hardship. But after a while, I thought about it and I thought, “No way am I going to settle for mediocrity. No way am I going to let my wife be unhappy working a job when she really wants to stay at home and enjoy our new baby!”
As a Christian, my faith kicked in. I thought to myself, ” I say that I trust God, but yet when I really have a chance to put my faith to the test, I am shying away from it!” So I said, “blow it! Let’s go all in!”
I have never looked back from that day!
I am so glad I took the step.
In fact that was the beginning of a whole new journey of discovering new ways to make money!
It’s like that when it comes to making money online. Most people are afraid to get all in.
Why? Because there is going to be hardship involved.
What they don’t realise is that if you can endure hardship for a while. Make a few sacrifices now. Face a few challenges now. The rewards will be so much greater later on and the things you learn on the way there, shape you into a person that is ready to handle all that success brings.