There is not a single person on this earth who has not experienced stress or some sort of trial in their life or perhaps is experiencing one right now. We as mortal humans are not immune to difficulties, even though we may have the gospel of Jesus Christ. Life is hard and unfair sometimes and some people just accept that. Others recognize that, and choose to look on the bright side, they choose to be happy and have a positive outlook. Now I think that is the hard part. It’s not easy to have a trial and look at it and be happy with it. Nobody expects us to have a constant smile on our face. Trials, struggles, and sad things happen, but that it how we become better, and that is how we learn to rely on the Lord.

Each family that God has created and put on this earth has their ‘thing’ that stresses them out, whether that is a child with a disability, which is more constant, or whether it is a troubled teenager, a scary financial situation, perhaps even a relationship with a family member. Everyone in every family is dealing with something. Now again, this may seem like a pretty big generalization. However, as I mentioned before, the perspective that one has on their struggle can make it a little easier, or a lot more difficult. When a family as a whole recognizes a crisis within the family, and they come together and decide how they will respond or work together, they will oftentimes come out of the crisis as a stronger family unit. This could potentially be a tragic death of a family member, or a chronic illness of a family member. These kinds of crises will typically change the way a family functions. They can either look at it as the worst thing that could ever happen, or they can be grateful for the time that they had with the family member who unexpectedly passed; or with the ill family member, be grateful for the time that you still do have with them and make the most of it!

When a family responds negatively to a crisis using unhealthy coping mechanisms, this most often creates more stress in the home. Unhealthy coping mechanisms can include denial, or avoidance, or false blame. Facing a crisis is dealt with differently by each person and/or family, but these will not help the situation, it can only make it worse. Denying that your husband is an alcoholic is not only unhealthy for you, but unhealthy for the children as well if there are any in the picture. Along with denial, avoidance, in my opinion, shows weakness. I prefer to face a problem head on and try to solve it as quickly as possible, and then move onto the next issue whenever that may arise... To avoid a crisis (take the example of an alcoholic husband), avoiding that reality skews your view (of your goals, of what you pictured your family to be like, of your hopes and dreams that you have for your children), along with the view that your children will have of you as they grow older and begin to understand the situation that they were raised in. Perhaps this is a bit of an extreme example, but it gets the point across.

The Lord know us! He loves us! He gives us trials and struggles, personal and family crises BECAUSE HE TRUSTS US! “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth… (Hebrews 12:6).He knows that we can overcome these challenges that we will all inevitably face and are facing. We must endure to the end! We must be steadfast and immovable. The Lord is ALWAYS on our side! He has overcome the world (John 14:27).

“There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, the come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come” (Jeffrey R. Holland, ‘An High Priest of Good Things to Come’, 1999).