The best piece of advice I got from my councilors was “take things one day at a time”. When I talked to my pastors though, I got a slightly different version of this saying. When talking about overcoming my addiction to self harm my pastor quoted Luke 9:23 “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
The part that my pastor focussed on was the “Pick up your cross daily”. This verse is talking about how if we want to live for Christ we must be willing to suffer. The cross is a symbol of death, so when Jesus says we must bear our cross He is talking about the hardships we will face in life, especially as followers of Christ. Jesus never promises that life is going to be easy, in fact, He says the opposite. We will face hardships in this life, but as Christians we must bear these hardships differently.
The amazing thing about Christ is that even though we struggle in this life, He is here to help us.“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Mathew 11:28-30. We don’t have to struggle alone.
Lastly, God provides for us daily. He gives us just enough to make it through one day. We see examples of this in Exodus when God provides manna for the Israelites, but they were only allowed to take enough for one day. Or even in the Lord’s prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread”. Not weekly, or yearly, but daily.
In conclusion, we will face many troubles on this earth, but God is our help, and He will provide for us each day. When you go through hardships, take it one day at a time, and trust God to do the rest.