By Doug Creamer

Life has good days and bad days. If you are experiencing the steadiness of life…enjoy it. Don’t be surprised when something wonderful comes along and takes you to cloud nine. Then there might be that sudden dip in your pleasant road. Life is always interesting and ever-changing.

When life takes a little dip, we all adjust and life soon returns to its normal routine. We might get frustrated and even mad at the circumstances, but given time our emotions will return to their normal levels. Someone cuts you off, the light catches you or the toilet overflows…life’s bumps come at all of us. We yell at the driver or light that messed us up or clean up the mess and move on.

Then we come to those dips that throw us for a loop. Your child has to go to the hospital for a broken bone or illness. You or a family member gets COVID. Your parents encounter a health issue that is going to impact your life. You were involved in a minor wreck that means your car is going to be in the shop for a week. These events bring with them changes in our routines that will over time smooth out and allow us to return to normal or even a new and slightly different normal.

Then there comes those days when the dip drops out of sight. The phone rings and your world falls apart. You are driving along and in a split second everything changes. You are at the doctor’s office and receive news that you don’t want to hear. However the news arrives, a rollercoaster ride takes you through many ups and downs. There will be some long nights and terrible days. You find yourself longing, hoping, for some type of return to normal life, which eludes you for a long time.

What do we do when life hits us hard and unexpectedly? I feel bad for those who do not believe in God. They can’t run into the Father’s arms, where believers need to go when the bottom falls out in life. The trouble is that sometimes in those terrible moments we blame God for whatever trial we are facing. So we trade the comfort of our Father’s arms for the emotions that we feel justified in having and expressing.

Another mistake we make is facing trials alone. We think we are strong and can push through a health crisis without letting anyone know. We lose our job and our finances are a mess, but we try to make it through without the love and support of family and friends. We have been at the hospital for a week sitting with a family member without telling anyone. Our child has become addicted to drugs, but no one knows.

Your trial was never meant for you to experience alone or to be shared on social media. I believe you need to find a few friends who will support you and pray for you. Prayer is powerful and changes circumstances far greater than any of us understand. I believe it is those prayers that can sustain us and help us make it to the other side. There are also many practical things that friends and family can do to help if only they know what to do. People want to be there for you!

I understand the problem is being open and vulnerable. Letting people see into your life can be very difficult. They discover you aren’t perfect. They learn that you have doubts, fears, and that you worry. They may see that your armor of faith has some cracks. They might see that you fell down, but they can be there to help pick you up. They can hold you and comfort you. They can encourage you and stand with you in faith believing that God is going to pull through for you. They can remind you of the goodness and the love of God.

I want to encourage you to connect with some brothers and sisters in Christ and allow them to see behind the curtain in your life. It’s OK when they discover you are human. You have struggles and problems, good days and bad days. Let them encourage you, support you, even carry you if necessary. You know you would and have done it for them; let them do the same thing for you. Life is so much better when we allow people to love us, pray for us, and be there for us. It’s powerful when the family of God comes together to share God’s love and to pray.

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041 or doug@dougcreamer.com.