Hope Covenant Church | Frustration

I would love to start off this post with this simple statement, "I love my church". In my personal life, there has been a vast amount of frustration lately. That being said, I have made my mind up to let Hope Covenant Church become my sanctuary. I have made my mind up that while at the the church for worship, I will not be frustrated with my problems. I will simply deal with them and let that small period of time be free of my frustration. Why did I choose Hope as the place to act as my sanctuary. Although it is literally a sanctuary, the place being a church and the home of God has little to do with my reasoning. The reason I have chosen Hope to be my window of time is because the people who come to Hope have been very supportive to me. Most of my fellow congregants do not care what state you are in when you enter Hope, they are supportive always. Every time I enter the door, someone asks me about my week. Someone is truly concerned with your week, every week. These people bring relief to a frustrating time.

 Everyone finds unique ways to deal with frustration. Some people turn to the word of God, some people turn to the bottle, some people exercise. For me, fellowship with those who are caring and supportive brings much needed relief from tough times. This relief brings me to a saying that I have been told since I was a little boy, "God will not give you more than you can handle." I believe that God allows adversity in your life to make you a stronger person. God has a plan, and that plan involves your strength. When adversity is in your path, and you turn to God, you will grow stronger. That strength can then be used by God to further his plan. I take comfort in knowing that I am simply training to fulfill God's plan.

If you would like to become part of my great faith community, I would love to see you this Sunday at:

Hope Covenant Church

14401 West Avenue

Orland Park, IL

(708) 873-3640 ()

Thanks for reading the blog. If you would like to be a part of the blog, email me your posts and I will do my best to get them on the page.

JWC

Hope Covenant Church | Overcoming Adversity

  People have instances in their life where things do not go according to plan. I have recently had one of those instances. I will admit that my first reaction was to be mad and angry. I know this is a common response for adversity. Especially so if you had nothing to do with the reason adversity was placed in your path. Anger is a common first reaction. I am now in the stage where you are either frustrated or depressed with the obstacle. I find that this stage is where your faith community and your family can help the most. It is in this stage where you learn to overcome your obstacle. You will learn to adapt to not have the obstacle run your life. This is where you can determine how long the obstacle will be a barrier to your life. For me, I find I can be one of two ways. The first option is, I can mope and feel sorry for myself. I can say to myself, I am not expected to achieve with this obstacle in my way. The other option is, I can become aggressive with the obstacle and be determined to overcome and conquer. This second option is inevitable. I know that I will eventually come to this option. The question is how soon will this be my choice? This question is where Christ and your faith community come into play.

I have found that the faith community is only supportive. They do not assist with feeling sorry for yourself. This is a fantastic motivator to become aggressive because you now know that people are believing in you. It also makes you want to live up the expectations. This speeds the progress of your recovery and helps you to get on a healthy track. I would like to thank my family and the members of my church for the support they have given me. Most don't even know I am overcoming an adversity, but they always give support. That is the other great advantage of a faith community. People in your church are genuinely concerned about you and want to see you succeed. For me, that means a lot. It means that people are interested in my life and interested in helping me achieve the goals I set for myself. I know that I could use some extra prayers for the next few weeks as I begin to overcome some of my adversity. I hope you find the support you need, when adversity knocks on your door. If you would like to become part of my faith community, visit us on Sunday at:

Hope Covenant Church

14401 West Avenue

Orland Park, IL

(708) 873-3640 ()

Thanks for reading the blog. If you would like to be a part of the blog, email me your posts and I will do my best to get them on the page.

 JWC