The Struggle is Real / Mrs Mandy Winkle

Mandy Winkle

Pastor's Wife

Bible Baptist Church of Rendon

Fort Worth, TX

 

The Struggle is Real

My mother-in-law had a quadruple bypass in December. Sitting in the waiting room during her surgery we kept hearing this phrase from my 23 year old niece: “The struggle is real.”  My husband asked, “What is that? ‘The struggle is real.’” It annoyed him, so of course we teased him the rest of the day with it. ;-) 

Since then, the phrase has caught on around our house.  It has come to represent what my husband and I call “non-problems.” For example, right now as I am typing on my laptop, I keep hitting the sensitive mouse pad with my wrists and it’s sending my cursor all over the place. I’m trying not to lay my hands all the way down to prevent it. It’s really a “non-problem” but hey, the struggle is real.

Some other more real struggles I face:

- Sharing one bathroom with my family of 7.  Our house needs some expensive plumbing repairs we are currently saving up for.  Maybe that doesn’t seem to be a big problem for you, but hey did I mention I have two sons and a husband in that mix?! That struggle IS real, ladies!

- Keeping the laundry caught up! (Can I get a witness?!)

- Keeping balance in my life by keeping Christ at the center.

No matter what your struggle is, there is God.  My struggle may be real, but so is my God.

Struggles can come from many different sources. Let’s take a look at a few people in the Bible and how they handled their struggles. 

These first four ladies all had the same struggle. Sara, Rachel, Hannah and Elisabeth – can you guess their struggle? 1,000 points if you guessed: a barren womb. God had closed each of their wombs.  Sara and Rachel both took matters into their own hands by giving their husbands a handmaiden to wife (Genesis ch.16 & 30) Each handmaiden conceived a son on behalf of them, but not without serious consequence. Both of these women's solutions have caused heartache and grief for literally CENTURIES. Isaac vs. Ishmael – Israel vs. Palestine – Muslims vs. the world. It’s never wise to take matters into your own hands.

I Samuel 1 tells us about Hannah’s struggle with a barren womb and the provoking from an adversary she endured over it. Hannah’s response to her struggle? She took it to the Lord in prayer. She was so fervent in her prayer at the temple, the priest, Eli, thought she was intoxicated. Eli gave her the assurance that God would give her petition. Verse 19 has some of the sweetest words “…and the LORD remembered her.”  But of course we can see that

Hannah had remembered the LORD first! She took her struggle to the ONE who loved her like no other. 

The Bible does not recount Elisabeth’s struggle with childlessness. We can only gather her heartbreak of being barren. Luke 1:7 tells us that she and her husband were “well stricken in years.” Can you imagine Elisabeth’s shock and joy of finding out she was with child in her old age? Elisabeth solution to her struggle was to wait on God’s timing. She may have just given up on the dream altogether, we don’t know. But we do know that God didn’t give up. He had a special plan for her little boy. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” (John 1:6) God’s timing is always perfect timing. 

Some other struggles noted are:

SAMSON:  Struggle: his flesh   Solution: to indulge

PETER: Struggle: his mouth   Solution: repeated repentance

JACOB: Struggle: deceitfulness to his brother  Solution: sought forgiveness

MOSES: Struggle: his own perceived limitations  Solution: stepped out on faith

DEMAS: Struggle: his love of the world  Solution: left the Lord’s service

Each situation was handled differently and each with different results. There are some definite examples to follow and some to not! Don’t miss this ladies: No matter what your struggle is, there is God.  Your struggle may be real, but so is your God.  The one thing we can do for any struggle we face is to GIVE IT TO GOD. 

I Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you.

If you’ve ever been fishing you know the thrill of hurling your lure and watching it sail across the water.  That’s how we are to give our cares to the Lord. Cast it on over – granny launch it if you have to!  Give him ALL YOUR CARE too, don’t hold back.  Hey the sparrows don’t have to struggle for food each day, do they? Our Heavenly Father cares enough to feed them – how much more does he love you?

I taught this lesson to my own ladies earlier this month, and I passed out those little Chinese finger traps to each of them. You know, the little woven tubes that you place your fingers in and try to escape from?  The more you struggle to remove yourself, the more of a struggle it becomes. You have to stop pulling, relax and your fingers come right out. Did you catch that? Stop pulling. Relax. Give it to God. You’ll come out of it. 

The struggle is real, but so is your God.