We were pouring ourselves out to God and getting attacked from every side. It should not surprise us if life is hard, especially if we love Jesus. We are at war — not in heaven. And yet it always does surprise us.  When  you are truly about the things  of God, there is always attack. So Jesus prayed for us, not that we would be kept from hardship or suffering but that we would be kept from the evil one who desires to take us out.

How many times have I kicked and pouted to God because life was not going how I wanted?  How many times have I thought to myself, That is not fair! While I may have read in my Bible that we are in a spiritual war, that truth  had not fully adjusted my expectations of this life. To accept that life is supposed  to be hard is the beginning of joy.

There is freedom in understanding that heaven is coming and we are not there yet. We’re called to live, instead, aware that we are at war with a ruthless enemy who is trying to destroy us if we are living surrendered to Jesus.

It reminds me of Gone with the Wind. Scarlett O’Hara is a little diva before the war. Her food is brought in to her extravagant bedroom on silver trays. But when she gets home to Tara after the war, she gets her hoe in the dirt and tries to coax corn to grow, telling everyone around her to quit complaining.  Because of the war, her reality was different, and therefore she lived differently. She went from pouty and spoiled to an intense workhorse.