The old saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” You are tough. I believe that. Why? Because Jesus is in you, and He was the toughest man—the God-Man—that ever lived. Yet I know you are only human.

By the way, even some of God’s greatest servants got very discouraged—Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and others. The list goes on, and it’s okay. But our Lord was with them, and He will see you through this time in your life. I know you know that you can trust Him. Do you believe that?

I remember, over the last forty-plus years, talking with my dad and many others during tough times in their lives, but they persevered, just like many in the Bible.

Do you remember the song Horatio Spafford wrote, “It Is Well with My Soul”? It was during a very difficult time in his life. As a matter of fact, it was after he lost his children when the ship they were on went down in the ocean, and they drowned. Needless to say, that was a real tragedy.

Please do not forget—our Lord has carried you through so much in the past, and He is not going to leave you now.

In life, we face some uncontrollable circumstances that can knock us down, taking the breath out of us temporarily. However, gradually, Jesus Christ, who suffered immensely, will pick us up with His mighty arms and shower us with His amazing grace and great comfort until we can stand again on our own two feet emotionally, mentally, relationally, and most importantly, spiritually. Bless His name.

Will you trust Him right now? Call upon Him. Look to Him. Thank Him. Experience, and then share, His wonderful love.

Yesterday, I visited a man who has a tumor protruding out of his neck about the size of a tennis ball, and it is growing larger every day. There is nothing they can do about it. He asked me why God was leaving him here. He said he would rather go to heaven because he is in excruciating pain every minute. It is hard to relate.

I told him I did not fully understand, but it was obvious he was having a huge impact on his family as they watched him suffer. We both came to the conclusion that he was teaching his children how to die.

A lot of folks feel hopeless. Do you? But there is always hope in Jesus for His children. After all, heaven is just in sight, where there will be no more pain, suffering, tears, or death. Imagine that.

This is made possible because of Jesus’ sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross for our sins and His glorious resurrection from the dead, which gives us eternal life and hope beyond the grave.

Never forget Job in the Bible. Do you remember what he went through and how he suffered losing all of his ten children, his wealth, and even his health? Job said, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble” (Job 14:1).

But he also said, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25–26).

Speaking of going through hardships and afflictions, and yet enduring, Paul wrote, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9).

Later in that same chapter, he explained, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18).

So this pastor is asking our Lord to give you strength and grace to not give up. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).

After all, others who love you would not want you to give up. They look up to you. Not to mention, our Lord Jesus is not finished with you yet. Stay the course.