Tips to Keep the Faith During Hard Times

Coping with Hard Times

By Tri Robinson

When we fall on hard times in our lives, oftentimes our instinct for survival overrides everything. Our relationships, our jobs, our faith—no area of our lives is spared from the panic we feel when life begins going south.

But is that the right approach to take when crisis hits our lives? Is abandoning ship and flailing toward shore the right way to navigate through stormy seas? And what about our faith? Is God still God in the bad times just like He is in the good times?

The truth of the matter is hard times are exactly that—hard. But how we approach those periods in our lives determines whether we’ll just survive, thrive or sink altogether.

Tri Robinson is an author and senior pastor of the Vineyard Boise Church in Boise, ID. He has written three books, including Small Footprint, Big Handprint: How to live simply and love extravagantly, and blogs regularly about his adventures in sustainable living.

Get the Right Attitude

It’s easy to get swept away in the negative emotions of the day. Whenever we turn on the television to watch the news, it’s a screen full of dour faces delivering more grim reports. Though we can’t ignore reality, as people of faith we can’t allow it to make us hopeless.

We get the right attitude when we allow God to renew not just our minds, but the attitude of our minds. (see Ephesians 4:22-24) If we approach difficulties with an attitude that says, “I will get through this with God’s help,” it’s much easier to face each day. Otherwise, we’re trying to swim against the current on our own, and it’s only a matter of time before we’re carried downstream.

Demonstrate Faith in God

There are the moments when it is time to reveal what’s truly on your heart—unabashed faith in God or convenient Christianity. It’s easy to love God—or anyone, for that matter—when everything is in perfect rhythm and rhyme.

But what happens when things begin misfiring? Do we immediately start blaming God? Shaking an angry fist at heaven? Enter into a constant refrain of “Woe is me!”?

This is when we get to prove that what we say—that we trust in God and surrender our lives to Him—is what we actually believe. Jesus said all things are possible to those who believe. (see Mark 9:23) So, do you believe God is going to provide and care for you? Or do you think He is going to desert you?

Keep your Faith

Even if you’re in a place of extreme difficulty and your problems consume your thoughts, we must remember not to live out of a place of fear and defeat. It is during these times that we need to respond with faith and generosity.

The Apostle Paul exhorted the church in Macedonia for the way they were responding to the difficulties of their day:

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. ( 2 Corinthians 8:1-3)

Endeavor to do the same in your life, no matter how difficult times may be, and watch God lift you out of despair with His everlasting hope.