5 Ways I Found God in the Middle of Struggle
When I think about gratitude, I can’t help but look back on the times I’ve struggled most in my life and how God has worked through people to teach me about his goodness, compassion, and grace. As I am able to process each struggle, I intentionally look for where God was in the midst of each moment and almost every time, I see his provision, comfort, care, compassion, goodness, and love revealed to me through those around me.
Finding God in the middle of my struggle
I think about when our meager savings dwindled down to zero and our checking account had a grand total of $1.86. There was an unexpected gap in payments for my husband’s work. Rent came due and other bills were already overdue, and yet we had a community around us willing to generously lend us the funds we needed to pay our rent and put food on the table. God provided exactly what our family needed in the midst of that financial hardship. This moment opened up my eyes to being more generous to those around me.
I think of the little boy who came up to me and gave me a big hug and sat with me in silence on the stage stairs of the auditorium after my grandma’s funeral. Looking back, I’m able to see how his strong little arms and silent presence opened up my eyes to being more compassionate to those suffering through deep loss.
I think of the time I found out I was unmarried and pregnant and how the open enrollment for health insurance at my job had just begun, allowing me to sign up so that all of the doctor and hospital bills were fully insured. This moment taught me to not judge others because situations are not always as black and white as they may appear.
I think of the moments I’ve felt the harsh sting of rejection. These moments have taught me to pay more attention to how my words and actions may affect those around me. They have also taught me what a rare gift it is to have a listening companion.
I think of the times I’ve desperately clung to dreams I thought God had given me only to be disappointed as I watched them dissipate into thin air. These moments have taught me how important it is to have a community who can encourage and pray for me, lift me up when I don’t have the strength to do it myself anymore.
A blessing in the middle of your struggle
May we be the kind of people who reflect the goodness of our loving Father to those around us. May we be the community of grace and compassion we have been called to be.
May we do our part in helping to bring the kingdom of heaven to those desperate for something good.
Meet Jennie Denney
Jennie Denney is an author, writer, poet, seminary student, wife, and mom to four children. In 2019, she published a journal called Soul Cries: A Journal, where she combined her poetry and photographs with space to write, reflect, and process. She writes a weekly blog post at Jenniedenney.com on finding beauty, peace, and hope in the ordinary. She loves to listen and encourage others as they are shaped and molded into the likeness of Jesus through their own mundane . . . and sometimes not so mundane experiences. As a result, each Tuesday she shares a Tuesday practice, where she encourages her readers to take some time out of their day to connect with God in a deep and meaningful way.
She has connected with various artists and, together, they are working on a collaboration project that will take twenty-one of her Tuesday Practices and combine them with artwork into a journal. She hopes this beautiful journal, along with these practices, will become habits in the lives of her readers, helping to mold and shape them to become more like Jesus. Stay tuned for more information leading up to the release of this new project! She would love to connect with you on Instagram and at Jenniedenney.com where you can sign up to receive her weekly blog posts and her gift of 5 Poems to Nurture Your Soul.
Where to find her . . .
Begin Within is a series to inspire a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbors as well. Gratitude is a theme we talk about often around here because it ties so closely into other missional living rhythms. Practicing gratitude reminds to keep our hearts soft and expectant and our eyes open. Therefore, the more we embrace gratitude, the easier it becomes to truly see our neighbors and where we can join what God is already doing in our neighborhoods.
My vision for this gratitude series is to help others embrace a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only their own life, but the lives of their neighbors as well.
If you would like to contribute to Begin Within, you can find the submission guidelines here.
Creating Ripples
If you would like to cultivate rhythms in addition to gratitude that will empower you live on mission in your neighborhood, check out Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. This small book will help you make a big impact in your neighborhood as you learn to let missional living flow from the inside out. Get the 30-day missional living challenge free when you purchase the book.
