HOW DO YOU RESPOND IN TOUGH TIMES

At a time like this when things are generally tough due to the economic recession Nigeria is currently facing. Things are generally tough everywhere and the mouth of most people are filled with only negative report. The year 2016 has ended and 2017 has begun. A lot of us are wondering if all the negativity and hardship of 2016 will continue in this New Year. Everybody had different stories to tell in the last year 2016 but one thing everybody agrees with is that it was indeed a tough year. It was a year where we all in our respective lives were put through one test or the other. Even as a nation. The last year 2016 tested our strength. unity and perseverance. Today, I thought to share a simple story about the carrot, egg, and coffee – items we can find easily around your kitchen, in the hopes that after reading it you will look at things and all the challenges of the last year in a different light.

 “A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as if when one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see. ”Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?” Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. 

“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?” Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft, lose my strength and throw in the towel easily? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after an illness, a job loss, a breakup, a financial hardship or any other trial become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter, tough, full of resentment and a hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. The coffee bean fulfills scriptures of standing and coming out stronger from adversity and changing the situation around it. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. When things are at their worst, do you get better and change the situation around. When the hour is darkest and trials are at their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? Do we learn the lessons from the situations in our lives, do we  let the situations and circumstances in our lives improve us and make us better or do we let it make us bitter one scripture that comes to mind is Proverbs 24:10

   King James Version

Proverbs 24:10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

      Message Bible

¹⁰ If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn't much to you in the first place.

I read somewhere that “The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they make the most of everything that comes their way’’ be it good or bad. Robert Schuller said ‘Tough times never last but tough people do’. Times of testing and trials are actually times of spiritual training and growth. God loves you too much to leave you weak, underdeveloped and immature. Things fall apart sometimes in order to fall into place. Sometimes God removes people from their comfort zone in other to take them to the promised land. What sometimes looks like a miserable ending can sometimes be a beautiful beginning. Some events of life can actually be beyond our control, its important to let go and let God.This trial and test you are going through is not punishment it is training, the normal experience of children. Another scripture that comes to mind is 1st Corinthians 10:13

King James Version 

1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

    Message Bible

¹³ No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.  

The ability to stay calm regardless of the circumstance, to remain calm when the heat is on and to be on top of the circumstance instead of under can only be gotten from God and His word. We have to learn to live by the word of God in every area of our lives. We have to learn to be sensitive to the voice of the Lord. We must be quick to respond and to obey His voice. God’s word says that my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Be assured no matter what might come your way, God Almighty has your best interest at heart. He will never give you anything too hard to handle or too heavy to bear while having this in mind that this too shall pass.

Until our next post I leave you with this scripture from Jeremiah 29 vs 11( The message bible) '' I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out — plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for''

Until our next post,remain rapturable.

References :
The word for today daily devotional    3/1/17
The word for today daily devotional     6/1/17
mum2mumafrica.com        8/12/16