hard assignments - Loved, chosen, & empowered

Sometimes trust feels risky. It often feels challenging, at least for me.

I’ve always found coming up with ideas easy—ways to love people well, ways to reflect Christ, ways to make an impact. It’s the follow through trips me up.

Because living out our faith—especially in hard, uncomfortable spaces—requires something deeper than grit and determination. It calls for a steady reliance on Christ, not on outcomes we can predict or control.

Unfortunately, there’ve been seasons when fear and self-protection hindered my obedience. I gravitated toward what felt manageable and “safe.” Friendly conversations, familiar people, environments where I could anticipate how things might unfold. Serving Jesus from behind a screen felt far less costly than stepping into the complexity of real, hurting lives.

But I learned that retreat slowly weakens my faith.

Supernatural strength grows within us when we follow Jesus into places where we’re desperate for His help. In those spaces our strength and words feel insufficient. That’s where our awareness of our need for Christ leads us to increased dependence.

I saw this clearly when my husband and I opened our home to a hurting teenager. Her pain ran deep. Far deeper than anything I could fix. Night after night, I listened as she shared her story, aware of how little I could actually change.

Sometimes this felt overwhelming, and I wanted to protect my heart from anxiety and pain. But God didn’t ask me to fix her situation. He invited me to stand with her in it. To simply remain present.

And in that messy, stretching, and often uncomfortable place, I experienced Christ in a powerful and deeply comforting way.

In moments when I didn’t know what to say, He gave me the right words. When I felt overwhelmed by my weakness, He sustained me with His strength. When I completely blew it, which sadly, occurred far too often, He gave me grace.

In this, He reminded me of an important truth God initially spoke to me, through a pastor, when my marriage was floundering: sometimes things get harder before they get better, but that doesn’t mean God isn’t working.

Because He is always working for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).

Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd, thereby declaring Himself as the One who leads, protects, and remains with us, His sheep. He doesn’t leave us alone in hard places, our pain or fear. He goes before us, walks beside us, and sustains us when we feel weary and the road ahead steep and clouded with fog.

When we trust that He’s carrying us, our burden feels a little lighter, the path ahead a tad clearer, and our souls bolstered by His faith-bolstering grace.

The discomfort, uncertainty, and emotional weight we long to avoid often becomes the very place where our faith grows most. Not immediately or without struggle, but through repeated moments of choosing to trust when He doesn’t provide the clarity we seek.

That season with that teenager stretched me more than I expected. Yet through it, I encountered God in ways that dramatically deepened my faith. I saw more clearly how He cares, guides, and remains present in situations that feel unresolved and maybe even unresolvable.

When you sense God nudging you toward something difficult—a conversation you’d rather avoid, a person whose pain feels overwhelming, a step of obedience that stretches your comfort—pause, turn to God, lean on Him, and receive all the blessings your soul needs to take that next right step.

Because of Jesus and our relationship with Him, we don’t have to figure everything out. We simply need to fix our spiritual eyes on Him and follow however He leads

Because the Lord won’t abandon you in your stress, overwhelm or insufficiency. Instead, He meets you in it to transform you through it.

With time, as you trust Him to lead you well, a quiet confidence forms in your growing awareness that He is faithful, present, and at work in ways far beyond what you can see.

If you’re presently in a difficult season and in need of hope, catch my conversation with author and YouTuber Kirby Kelly in the Faith Over Fear podcast episode titled, “An Unshakable Hope to Steady Your Anxious and Hurting Soul”. Find it HERE.

Why God Might Feel Distant and How to Connect With Him More Deeply – Faith Over Fear

Have you ever wondered why God can feel distant even when you genuinely love Him and want a close relationship with Him? Past experiences of rejection, emotional distance or unmet needs can affect how we relate to others—and how we experience our relationship with God. Jennifer Slattery talks with author, speaker and Anglican priest Reverend Summer Joy Gross about attachment, anxiety and the fears that can leave us questioning whether God is truly attentive, responsive and engaged with us. Summer shares how understanding attachment helped her recognize some of the fears beneath her own people-pleasing and anxiety and how God has been leading her toward greater security in His love. Together, she and Jennifer discuss the pressure to approach God correctly, why we don't have to chase Him or earn deeper connection with Him and how healing often occurs slowly, one encounter with God at a time. Discover how you can bring your full, messy self to God, receive His compassionate presence and increasingly experience the secure, unchanging love of the One who continually draws near. Scripture discussed or referenced: Ezekiel 36:26; Psalm 46:10; Luke 15:3–7, 11–32; Psalms (David’s laments); Mark 10:13–16; Philippians 1:6; Isaiah 51:14 Resource referenced: Emmanuel Promise: Discovering the Security of a Life Held by God by Summer Joy Gross Find Summer Joy Gross: On her website On Instagram On Facebook Find Jennifer Slattery: On her website Instagram Facebook Amazon Subscribe to her free newsletter Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.