We started off the semester so strong. There were events after events, old friends, new friends, a lighter work load, it was all going pretty good. Then all of the sudden it wasn’t. It wasn’t just more work. It wasn’t just our lives getting a little too busy. It was more than that. It was as if someone knew exactly where it would hurt and started punching. We have all turned a blind eye to the changes in each others lives. We are putting up a front and acting as if it were all the same. None of us want to burden the other with our problems. None of us want to talk about the issues as if that would make them worse. We sit here and smile at each other, not even knowing that the person staring back is going through just as much as you are. So why doesn’t someone start talking? Why not try and help each other rather than stumbling through it alone.

For some of us, it isn’t just school that has us stressed. It is extra circular’s, jobs, relationships, or family matters. It is our personal lives that have taken a hit just as hard as the Organic Chemistry test will be this week. It seems like no one else could quite understand what you are going through, but in reality they can. Or at least they can try if you let them. Isn’t that what community is all about? A place where we can encourage and help one another through the daily struggles along with the big ones.

Everything just seems like it is going in slow motion and we cannot get out of the funk, until we talk to someone and realize that they can help. Nothing comforts me more than knowing there is someone else out there praying for me. God is always there to bring you hope through the difficulties. God is there when you cannot see him. He is there through the season of change, but He remains the same. God is permanent. Finding the people that can remind you of that is so important. Having a friend there to hold your hand and tell you that God really does have you, brings so much encouragement. The thing is, friend, God sees the good that we are doing. And where God sees what we are doing, so does the devil. And he is not happy. He knows where to hit where it will hurt and we need people there in that moment to help hold us up. Doing life alone is not an option. It may be scary to open up and be vulnerable, but I have no doubts that the person will reciprocate. That is the beautiful thing about friendships, about lovers of God. God’s love will seep out of them and touch you in a way that only he can.

God’s love and encouragement is better than any other remedy you could try. So please, hear me. You are not alone. You do not need to fake your way through the day. There is nothing wrong with being down, because the devil doesn’t play around. Just remember this, God has overcome the world. There is nothing that can be done to us that will defeat us. If God is with us, who can stand against? Be still and know that He is God. Remember that through or sufferings brings perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. During these times, all we need is a little hope.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. – Romans 5:3-4