Our Season of Testing

Our family has just come through a tough season. About a year ago, everything in our personal lives and ministry fell apart. Through various circumstances, our church took a huge financial hit last summer. For several months, we didn’t receive a paycheck. When we finally started getting a paycheck again, it was half of what we used to make. It took us months to dig out of the pit both personally and for the church.

We ended up moving into a smaller house, and Matt picked up hours delivering for Amazon. Everything was turned on its head. So much changed for us over this past year. I think I can finally say, we are adjusting to our new normal. As with any tough season in life, I struggled for a long time. I spent a lot of time praying, journaling, being sad, getting angry, lashing out in frustration, and more. While life is not perfect, and we are still dealing with everything, I feel like I can finally take a full breath and focus on moving forward.

Job’s Life After His Season of Testing

I’ve been reading the book of Job this past month and thinking about his story. I wonder if Job had a hard time after God brought him through his season of testing. We know he lived a long life. I wonder what his life was like after God restored him. Did his body bear the scars of his disease? Did he struggle with post-traumatic stress? Was he constantly hovering over his children, protecting them, worrying about them? Did he constantly look over his shoulder? Was he always waiting for the hammer to drop? Did he fear God taking away everything again?

Living in Fear

After you come through something traumatic, fear keeps us from having peace. A few years ago, someone set our van on fire the night after Christmas. It was a pretty traumatic experience for us. You can read about it in a post I wrote HERE. After our van fire, I had a hard time sleeping at night. It took me a long time to be able to sleep through the night. I battled fear every night for awhile. All I could think about was it happening again.

I listened to a podcast a few years ago. The lady being interviewed spoke about losing her eight-month-old baby. A friend told her, “Well, at least the worst that could possibly happen, happened.” The mom who had lost her child said, “No, my greatest fear is it happening again and losing one of my other children.

Living Life to Its Fullest

Sometimes God takes us through a season of testing that leaves us battle-weary and scarred. We can spend our days looking over our shoulders in fear, but that’s no way to live life. I don’t think Job lived that way. The last commentary on his life comes from the final chapter of Job.

After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days. (Job 42:16,17)

I think that Job was somehow able to move on with his life and live it to the fullest.

5 Ways to Move Forward after a Difficult Season

How do you move on from something and not have it haunt you? Is it possible to live life fully in the moment and not fear something happening again? It can be. There are five ways we can choose to actively move forward.

1. Choose to live life one day at a time. Choose to trust God with today. Don’t can’t focus on tomorrow. Focus on God’s provision for today.
2. Enjoy each blessing and life today to the fullest. We must choose to smile and spend time with those we love. “Discouragement is a choice,” Rick Warren says. I remind myself of that often.
3. Don’t focus on the fear of the “what if’s.” We get paralyzed when we think about things falling apart again.
4. Write down something you are grateful for every day. Every morning, I start my morning time routine with writing down at least three things I am thankful for. This starts my day on a positive note.
5. Don’t spend time dwelling on the past. Think about the future and moving forward. When you are in a tough season, you can only manage to keep your head above water. As you start to move forward again, dream about the future. Make plans to live life fully again.

Following these five steps, we can find our footing again and begin to move forward after a season of difficulty. Solomon says, there is a time and a season for everything. God has not forgotten you in this season of difficulty. He is with you now, and He will help you when it’s time to start moving forward again.