Strong Enough...

“Here in Aus we breed ‘em tough”

This truly can be the mentality of many Aussies…I know many parents who detest their child/ren being ‘sooks’ and the saying ‘suck it up princess’ really did take off here...you see, inner strength and endurance is a prized and respected quality here…

Yet many Australian people do have massively big hearts and when the going-gets-tough so to speak, for example if a natural disaster hits, they dig deep and rally around their neighbours, even when they’re interstate…Australia is a very large continent!

Personal tragedy however, is something I’ve found we don’t tend to deal with so well as loving, supporting communities…from my personal observation it tends to be left to the individual to seek professional help or to walk this part of their personal life alone or with their nearest kin.

When I think of the people in desperation and personal suffering of course I remember current tragedies, yet my mind also goes back further to the people whose words we can find in the Bible from long ago…

I think of the Psalms where people in their desperation, called out to The Lord for strength and vindication…Psalm 109 is one such call.

Then I also think of God’s response…how He aligns Himself with the oppressed and responds with justice and mercy to their request…He is so Good! 

God is not just some genie who is at some people’s beck and call, so to speak…And although He is Sovereign and so much bigger and Awesome than we could ever possibly imagine, He is also loving, personal and relational…He cares and responds to the humble and afflicted with justice and mercy...And this is truly as His children how we should also be toward those around us who are struggling...one person is just as valuable as a whole community.

So where do I personally draw my strength to live a life of love toward all people? Well, as a believer in Jesus Christ I have been restored to God and am His beloved daughter and it is through my relationship with God through Christ that I draw my strength.  

As a Christian, I am not immune from disasters, personal tragedies or people’s selfish, sinful choices. And sometimes I still get kicked to the ground. Yet I have a source of eternal, super-natural strength and joy which sustains me.  This is not to say that life is always easy, or that I am always smiling and happy…but I do have a real relationship with God where I can pour out my heart to Him, rest in Him, find hope in and focus my eternal perspective upon.

I have learned that I actually don’t need to be ‘Strong Enough’ because my Father is. It is from His good, endless supply that I draw my strength.

Be blessed, Melanie :)

Let me leave you with a great song, 'Strong Enough' By Matthew West.