When life gets tough

"When the times get tough the tough get going." "If life hands you a lemon, make lemonade." "Just suck it up and go on." These are all quotes we all have heard one time or another. The problem is for people like me, I am not tough enough to keep going sometimes. I don't have any place for a lemonade stand and I never was very good at sucking it up and going on.

Some days peace flows like a river wherever we go. Lately I wrote a blog post about how peaceful it was at the end of feeding time here on the farm. The last post was "It is well with my soul." We need to cherish those times in our lives because there are times when trouble rears its ugly head. In the past eight days disturbing information came my way. The most recent was yesterday as I was working in the barn.

Yesterday was a busy day. We have a free standing horse stall and a few days ago my nephew, Mike, had used the tractor to move the stall to a different location in the barn made available when all the square bales of hay had been fed. The stall was moved close to the end of the barn. Enough room was left to hang a gate and create an additional stall. On the other side was also a place to create a stall with two gates. You have to understand the barn we use for horses is a modified area once used by those beautiful black and white high producing milk cows. It was the area they had for a feed bunk, (now removed) and for what is referred to as a loafing barn. The cow barn is being converted into a "horse haven." Would you believe "makeshift horse stalls." Hey, we just open all the gates and scrape the stalls clean with the tractor. Can you do that? It works for us and the horses seem to like it, too.

With the stall moved there was still some hay left and pallets that needed moving. My day was spent moving hay and pallets, sweeping and cleaning, and general maintenance of the barn. A gate was hung and so on. Then came the call.

Now I will tell the story, but before I do, we need to talk. We all encounter some hardship in our life. Not all of us respond the same way. Most of us find a way to get past our problems. Some of have a hard time coping. For some of us our problems drive us to God. That is the way it is supposed to work. We have a God who told us in Hebrews. "This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." (Hebrews 4:15-16 NLT)


When I drove a truck I kept my CB on most of the time while on the open road. That way I could ask for traffic reports and bear reports. For my non-trucker friends a "bear report" was asking where the police are hanging out. When I finished one of these conversations there was something I always tried to say, "Remember God loves you and Jesus died for you." In most states and places this always got a positive response. I remember particularly one time a trucker thanking me for saying those words. His response to me was because he was pretty down and needed to hear that God loved him. That happens to us all. We need to know someone loves us. We never know how much this can mean to someone struggling with life.

Mary, my sister had to run some errands. On the way to leave our local road she encountered flashing lights. Cars were parked and our neighbor was standing along the road. My sister asked what had happened and the neighbor explained through her tears that the resident there had ended their own life. Now this is the second such case I know of in the last eight days. Of course in both cases no one knew the cause or that it was coming.

Yes, I know this blog may be considered by some a downer. We all must face down days, weeks, or even years. Mine seem to come in 3 and 1/2 year intervals. There was a drought for that length of time in Elijah's day. I have been through several lean periods with that time frame. How do we keep going?

I had talked to this person on several occasions when I was out on the road riding one of the horses. I am keenly reminded we can make a difference in others lives by giving kind words and pointing them to our Heavenly Father. We never know what tomorrow holds. So may I leave you with these words?

Remember, God loves you and Jesus died for you.
bob