Quotes about Challenges

Wilderness begins with disconnections. It continues with deceit

First thought of the morning, last worry of the night—your Goliath dominates your day and infiltrates your joy.

Create a trophy room in your heart. Each time you experience a victory, place a memory on the shelf. Before you face a challenge, take a quick tour of God's accomplishments. Look at all the paychecks he has provided, all the blessings he has given, all the prayers he had answered. Imitate the shepherd boy David. Before he fought Goliath, the giant, he remembered how God had helped him kill a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:34-36). He faced his future by revisiting the past.

Pits have no easy exits.

In Matthew 24:8, Jesus called these challenges birth pangs. Birth pangs must occur before a new birth. During this time the mother keeps focused on the end result, the moment she gets to hold that beautiful baby in her arms. She knows birth pangs don't last forever and they signal a new beginning in her life. Calamities and catastrophes are the earthly pains that must occur before the birth of the new world. Hold on. Grit your teeth. The next push could be the last.

Out of the lions' den for Daniel, the prison for Peter, the whale's belly for Jonah, Goliath's shadow for David the storm for the disciples, disease for the lepers, doubt for Thomas, the grave for Lazarus, and the shackles for Paul. God gets us through stuff.

Don't see your struggle as an interruption to life but as preparation for life. No one said the road would be easy or painless. But God will use your mess for something good. "This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. . . . God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best" (Hebrews 12:8, 10 MSG).

Joseph's pit came in the form of a cistern. Maybe yours came in the form of a diagnosis, a foster home, or a traumatic injury. Joseph

Our lives are a little like a milkshake. Ingredients get mixed together. Some of the ingredients are unimpressive by themselves. Some—rejections, disappointments, failures—are awful at the time. Yet God shakes them up and pours them out into a concoction that is delicious and good.

Writings from Max Lucado Our world is stressed. Jesus gets that. He faced the issues we face and some far more severe than we ever will. He taught how to deal with the challenges of life. And the key to what he taught is to believe God cares for you.

Difficult days demand decisions of faith.

Life pulls us down.