Challenge...

This morning I was thinking about, well, to be honest, I was thinking about myself and how I am going to go crazy!  I have been fighting this cold for a week now (its terrible), and yesterday Isaiah started coughing. Great, so I gave it to him.  I guess that's pretty much inevitable when you have to sing to and rock your baby before bedtime.  Anyway, I didn't go to church Sunday morning because of it either. I was feeling much better, but I did not want to get anyone sick.  Or cough my lungs out during the sermon. I hate when contagious sick people come to church.  I don't want to get sick, and I don't want anyone in my family sick, so I also try to avoid the situation.  Anyway, needless to say, a cold can be miserable.  Coughing. Sneezing. Achy. Cold. Hot. Congested.  Yuck.  Add to that having a house to clean up and a baby to watch, and its no fun. 

So, crazy day, yep... today... was catch-up day.  I am TRYING to get this laundry done. Get my floor cleaned. And get my bathroom cleaned (because failure me didn't do it last week when I felt semi-ok).  Hence, today I feel overwhelmed!  Well, I was thinking about all of this stuff I need to get done, and how I am faced with a mere cold (that made me miserable), and then I began thinking about others.

We all face challenges.  The people of Japan are faced with a terrible tragedy, and a challenge to overcome the death and destruction left by and earthquake and tsunami.  My grandpa has m.s. and my grandmother has to take care of him.  She recently recovered from colon cancer.  My mom just got back from being gone for three weeks.  She has a house that needs lots of catching up.  I had a cold (simple, but still a challenge for me after just getting over a stomach bug... you sick people need to stay away from me).  My baby is getting teeth (multiple teeth at once), which is not just challenging my parenting, it is also very challenging for little man as he has to go through it.  People are faced with death, hunger, sickness, poverty, homelessness.  The list goes on and on.  We all have battles we face before death takes us.  Life is a challenge. 

If we are truly living, we realize that the challenges others face don't just affect them, they affect us.  We carry each other's burdons.  We live. We love. We fight.  My grandma Hawkins once said:  "Life is hard, and then you die."  Oh how true.  While, we should be joyful in the midst of our challenges, life is extremely tough.  Trying to live the Christian life is hard.  Facing a challenge is difficult.  But, we have a way to overcome.  Here are some verses I like when faced with a difficult time:

Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. 

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.