Da Main Course: Life Ain't Always Sunshine and Rainbows

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. " -Rocky Balboa

This is one of my favorite quotes of all time, and I love the movie Rocky Balboa. I'm not trying at all to say that everything Rocky says are words to live by, but this quote gets me every time.

Life isn't just about all the good things that happen to us... in a lot of ways it's about the struggles we go through. We all experience hard times in life, times when it feels like the weight of the world is on our shoulders and we want to throw in the towel and give up. But those are the times that we grow the most. Your muscles will never grow if you don't use them, but they grow the most when you really put them to the test. The only way you can really grow as a Christian is through those hard times where your faith is being stretched beyond the limits that you have put on it. In most cases you learn more from the hard times than the good.

The great thing about it is if you have Christ in your life, He is watching your life everyday. Everything you experience He knows about and allows to happen. He knows exactly what you can and can't handle, after all He made you. Who knows creation better than the Creator. Trust him in every situation and know:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance". James 1:2

Chew on that, and hit me up with some feedback.

-Pastor Bill