Writer Spotlight! Shirley Hubbard

Meet Our Inspiring Guest, Shirley Hubbard AKA The Microwave Girl!

Why is Life So Hard??

During one of our bi-monthly rap sessions we played a little game where we had the girls to pull a question from our "question vault"; upon pulling the question the girl has the option to answer or pass.  One of the questions pulled was, "If you could ask God anything what would it be?"  Not to my surprise she decided to answer instead of pass, and her question to God was, "Why is life so hard?"  She sat in the circle anxiously waiting for me to address her question; all eyes were on me and I didn't have an answer for her.  I was completely caught off guard and found myself struggling to answer her question.  So I thought I would buy myself a little time by asking why she thought life was hard; she then began to tell me how her mom had been in a car accident and couldn't work and how there were days when there was no food for her and her siblings.  Her response made the question even harder to answer because I had asked that same question so many times myself.

In an effort to comfort her I began to share some of my personal experiences and how God had brought me through some rather trying situations.  But even while sharing  with her my mind began to wander back to just a few weeks prior when I was going through a struggle of my own; I was lying in my bed talking to God about my situation and I remember telling Him that my life wasn't supposed to be like this.  God then asked me a question, "Why?"  "Why is your life not supposed to be like this?"  That painstaking question was indeed a wake up call for me.

That question was a reminder that God never promised me a life free of trouble and just like He didn't promise me a trouble free life, He didn't promise you one either, in fact if you'll visit Paul in Romans 8:17 you'll find these words, "And since we are His children, we will share his treasures-for everything God gives to His Son, is ours too."    Focus on the latter part of the verse---"everything God gives to His Son is ours too"---not some things---EVERYTHING.  Everything means the whole thing--not bits and pieces of it, not the parts we like, but all of it.  Paul goes on to say, "But if we are to share in His glory, we must also share in His suffering."  So what does that mean?  According to Paul, it means trials and suffering are necessary parts of the EVERYTHING.  We don't get to pick and choose the parts we want to share in.  So the next time you find yourself asking, "Why is life so hard?" Remember your trials are necessary parts of the EVERYTHING.

Read more of Shirley's posts on her blog!