{"id":903,"date":"2009-11-05T03:19:38","date_gmt":"2009-11-05T08:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"318005392"},"modified":"2009-11-04T22:20:52","modified_gmt":"2009-11-05T03:20:52","slug":"five-best-things-god-never-said-part-5-god-never-said-that-it-would-be-easy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/five-best-things-god-never-said-part-5-god-never-said-that-it-would-be-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Best Things God Never Said, Part 5: God Never Said That it Would be Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Well, we\u2019re at number five.\u00a0 We\u2019ve gone through the first four and we\u2019ve arrived at number 5, and maybe the most important one to understand, and that is God never promised that your life would be easy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, there are those who promise that if you will comply to their list of best practices, things would be easy for you.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, some people use the Bible to prove that, out of the teaching of Genesis when Adam and Eve fell that the difficulty of life became part and parcel of their fall and the redemption that Christ achieved on the Cross corrected that little bit of human misery.\u00a0 But does it, and did it?\u00a0 Is that your experience?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve found.\u00a0 Nothing of significance is easy. <\/strong> My marriage isn\u2019t easy.\u00a0 It\u2019s difficult.\u00a0 Paula and I are two messed up people.\u00a0 To find a way to love each other beyond our own damaged and wounded emotions is hard.<\/p>\n

I have three beautiful daughters; grown, mature, human beings that I love and respect.\u00a0 But raising them wasn\u2019t easy.\u00a0 Dealing with their ups and downs and transitions wasn\u2019t easy.\u00a0 Working to provide for my family wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

As a leader, putting up with the criticism and betrayal of those that I\u2019ve given my heart to hasn\u2019t been easy.\u00a0 Nothing is easy.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter whether God is in the equation or not.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where the real difference is.\u00a0 Without God life is hard.\u00a0 It is painful and difficult.\u00a0 As a matter of fact that is the objection that a lot of people give.\u00a0 How can there be a God and life be so difficult and painful?\u00a0 Why do young children die?\u00a0 Why do bad things happen to good people?\u00a0 And the response is this.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t live with God in a world of pain, you\u2019ll live in a world of pain without God.<\/strong> It\u2019s not an option.<\/p>\n

So here is what God has promised; not that life would be easy, but that it would be worth it.\u00a0 And that makes all the difference in the world.\u00a0 My marriage has sustained me.\u00a0 And the pain and the difficulty of staying committed to my original promise and keeping my heart turned toward Paula alone has been more than worth it.<\/p>\n

Yes, I could have saved some money and aggravation, and having to buy a mini-van (how embarrassing) by not having kids.\u00a0 But then I would not have these three amazing adults in my life right now who I look up to, and who inspire me.\u00a0 And they\u2019re my kids!\u00a0 They\u2019ve been difficult, but more than worth it.<\/em><\/p>\n

College was difficult; more than worth it.\u00a0 Seminary was difficult; more than worth it.\u00a0 Graduate school was difficult; more than worth it.\u00a0 Starting a church from scratch was difficult; more than worth it.\u00a0 Everything that you will cherish, everything that will last, all that will endure come at a price.\u00a0 But remember this: all people pay the price<\/em>.\u00a0 Some pay a heavier price than others.\u00a0 God promises that if we trust Him with all of our heart, mind, and soul, and show up one day at a time, we\u2019ll get through it and we\u2019ll look back, and we\u2019ll have in our lives those things of incomparable value and worth:<\/strong> the hard things that were more than worth it.<\/p>\n

And remember this: there is no shortcut to anyplace worth going.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, we\u2019re at number five.\u00a0 We\u2019ve gone through the first four and we\u2019ve arrived at number 5, and maybe the most important one to understand, and that is God never promised that your life would be easy. Again, there are those who promise that if you will comply to their list of best practices, things … Continue reading “Five Best Things God Never Said, Part 5: God Never Said That it Would be Easy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}