I have been issued a challenge. A few years ago, my family and I were going through a rather tough patch. The situation was quite challenging and there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding our life. How would the bills get paid? Where will we live? We have kids in college. How can we help them when the income is cut in half? So much was up in the air and to be honest, I was scared. My life was anything but peaceful and there was certainly not any joy to be found. It was almost Christmas and I didn’t know if we would even be able to buy gifts that year.

God impressed on my heart to begin to write. I am not a writer. This is a skill that I have been honing for quite some time and still feel inadequate for the task. What happened next can only be described as a gift from God. I began to write about Advent. It occurred to me that many people around me had very limited understanding of this blessed season just before Christmas. It is not something that I had ever really thought about an so to be writing about the season of Advent would be unusual for me.

Advent, in case you don’t know, is the four Sundays prior to Christmas. Each Sunday focuses on a specific message. The first week is Hope, the second is Peace, third comes Joy and finally, Love. These were things that were sorely lacking in my life in that season and to put them into social media posts was soothing, healing, and exactly what I needed.

Now, several years removed from that situation, I can look back and see the hand of God in that time. Not only did He provide that outlet for me, but He also made a way for my family to make a very difficult transition much easier. Without HIs hand and our willingness to let Him lead, no telling where we would have ended up.

Recently, I was nudged again to revisit those social media posts. This time it was to revamp them into my first book. It’s a little book of Advent and, God willing, will be released for public consumption in the next week. It kind of needs to be if it will be used for Advent. #deadlines

Anyway, as I re-read those posts and adjusted them to a more readable format, I realized how uncomfortable I was then. With so much uncertainty and angst, it is a small wonder that we came through it all. But we did. And I see God in it. The life of following Jesus is not intended to be an easy one. He never claims it will be. Quite the opposite, actually. You will be challenged in your thinking, in your work, in your family. You will have hardships. But in the middle of all the hardships, in the middle of all the things, stands a Redeemer willing and ready to take you by the hand and lead you through it. All you have to do is let go of the world and take hold of His hand. It is totally worth it!

Are you ready for the uncomfortable life?