Help is here when life serves up tough times

I CAN’T play tennis myself, but I absolutely love watching it. It’s a sport that needs so much flexibility, endurance, strength and determination.

Players dedicate their lives to healthy eating, early morning training sessions and long stints away from their families.

As I was reflecting on this year’s Wimbledon, my mind went to how those skills are needed for the things we are facing at the moment.

Fuel, energy and food prices have all massively increased; different organisations are going on strike trying to get fairer pay and conditions for their workforces and things are happening overseas which just don’t seem to make sense to us.

I don’t know about you, but daily I feel like I need a fresh boost of flexibility, endurance, strength and determination. Everything about life seems to be getting harder, and just at a time when we felt like life was returning to a more “normal” state, post-Covid.

As a Christian, I believe that we have a God who loves us and cares for us. And that God wants to be part of our everyday lives.

In the Bible there is a book of Psalms, which is a collection of songs and poems written by a few different writers. In Psalm 46:10 we read: “Be still and know that I am God.”

I’ve read this a few times recently when I’m struggling to make sense of what is going on in the world, and how I’m going to navigate the upcoming months while trying to be strong and flexible to all that is going on around me.

Being a Christian doesn’t mean that we don’t go through tough times, but having a faith in God means that I am not on my own.

I trust that God is with me in all things, both joyful and difficult.

“Be still and know that I am God” gives me a great amount of peace when I feel like I don’t know what to do or how to do it.

If you’re going through a tough time at the moment, and you feel like the pressures of the world are becoming too great for you, I’d love to encourage you with the words, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Share with God what’s going on and what’s troubling you, and be confident in knowing that He is with you.

Amy Berry, The Beacon Church, Hinckley