matthew 9

Difficulty and Miracles

That hard thing you woke up to. It’s not the end. It’s the path. A path to what? It’s the path to a miracle you may not see coming.

Whether you’re battling pain, your health, financial trouble, or something else entirely—trouble never seems far away. Life is hard. That’s truth. But we live in a world where most people seem afraid to acknowledge hard things as a normal part of this life. They are. Life is hard. Difficulties aren’t the exception they are the expectation.

Expect difficulty. Lean into it. Not because you were hoping it would find you, but because you’re not afraid of it anymore. You can’t afford to spend your life dodging difficult things. Not only will it render you weak in a way you may never understand, it will Rob you of the miracle waiting on the other side.

No one knows peace like the one in the middle of life’s raging storm. No one knows warmth like the one trapped in the frigid wasteland. No one understands the miracle like the one standing on the precipice of disaster.

Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Don’t turn back.

As hard as whatever you’re facing right now may be, as hard as what comes next might get—your miracle is waiting for you in the middle of the insanity.

There’s an amazing stretch of scripture in the Gospel of Matthew. In chapter nine Matthew recalled a moment when Jesus healed several people in short succession. Each of those people were smack dab in the middle of a crazy difficulty. It was when things were terrible that the miracle showed up. That’s when things changed for them.

We shouldn’t go looking for difficulty. But we shouldn’t spend our days dodging it either. Your difficulty is fertile ground for the miracle that’s coming. Hold on.

“Out of difficulties grow miracles.“ - Jean de la Bruyere