When Will This Get Easier

Life doesn’t always get easier just because we wish it to. So how can we walk through the trials?

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know
that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4

I think I spent the first half of my motherhood wondering if my days would get any easier. I wasn’t expecting them to get better, because hard doesn’t mean bad. I just kept thinking that on the other side of sleepless nights, teething, toddler tantrums, and my motherhood list of “getting through,” there might be a semblance of easier.

The year I memorized James 1, I had small index cards with the words “steadfastness, perseverance, complete, lacking nothing,” scattered around my home. They were taped to my bathroom mirror, my van dashboard, my kitchen sink windowsill, and by my nursing rocker. The middle of the night feedings were my most tired, yet most aware moments of remembering those verses and those specific words.

This was the same year, I had six children under the age of nine and we began building our home on our own. Making trips to the property of land in the woods where we were building, packed with kids and crockpots and work gloves, to fit in the hours of building alongside my husband, while we raised our growing family.

And every morning I woke up I asked myself, “When will this get easier?” I certainly didn’t feel complete and I knew I was lacking.

We walked seasons of loss and hardship, inconsistent seasons of work, and various health challenges in those years, and my life verses became James 1:2-4.

It’s Not All a Test, But Obedience in Faith

Repetitive diaper changes, mounds of laundry, and meal plans are not the face of a test or trial. They are the repetitive opportunities for us to know perseverance and steadfastness as we focus on our investment, The response in our hearts and our actions will reap fruit and harvest that is presented to the Lord, lacking nothing.

God wants the best for us, not necessarily an easier path. ‘Easy’ may bring us comfort and ease but we would miss the lesson and the ‘drawing closer to Him’ that God intends.

Hard things are not always bad. ‘Hard’ stretches us to trust, to know who is in control, to lean on Him in faith, to pray, and to know His promises and to know our purpose in our steadfastness.

What is hard in your life right now?

Have you considered James 1:2-4 (above Scripture) as an encouragement to know God better and what the hard can mean in your life, besides drudgery and discouragement?

 

Find yourself a quiet place and make a list of the hard things in your life right now. Consider what you can do to get through those areas with help and hope. Then ask a mentor, who is perhaps on the other side of a similar situation, what they learned. What hope and faith they held onto to “get through it.”

I can tell you now, as a mom of 28 years, that all the things in my life that were trials or trying, that steadfast and perseverance (and this doesn’t mean to suffer through alone or without help,) were the things and moments I remember vividly as growth years of knowing and trusting God.

Hold on, dear mamas. Your faith-forward actions will grow you and His grace will sustain and support you.

 

You can find September’s book, Why Motherhood Matters, An Invitation to Purposeful Parenting here.

She has a free resource of help and hope for the Overwhelmed Mom and Truths to Live By.

Connect with September on Instagram at @septemberanne and on her website at septembermccarthy.com. Visit her shop here for encouragement and resources for your family.