Life's problems can be complicated and painful. Christians face all the same problems that other people do, yet they often seem less stressed and more at peace. Why is that?

The Christian approach to overcoming problems in life is unique in two ways:

1. A Christians' source of strength comes from someone other than themselves. Their strength is a direct result of their Faith and trust in God.

2. Christians have a "guidebook" to life, the Bible, that provides answers, comfort and wisdom for tackling life's problems.

When I'm up against some tough problems, I always think of Job. Job was a man in the Bible who had great faith in God. His problems were greater than any I've ever had to deal with. His children died in a wind storm, his sheep, cattle and other sources of wealth were stolen or destroyed, his wife turned against him and eventually left him, and he lost his health when a terrible and painful sickness afflicted him. Eventually, even his life long friends ridiculed him for continuing to believe God's promises.

Job was forced to watch the wicked men around him prosper, while he suffered. That was adding insult to injury. It was at this point that Job regretted the day he was born, but through it all, Job trusted God.

Very few of us have gone through all that Job did but our problems are equally as painful for us. Because of Job's faithfulness, God restored his health, wealth, gave him a new family and in the end Job was more blessed than he had previously been. As Christians, we look to this example and trust God in troubling times.

Prayer, faith in God and knowing that everything is in God's hands is how Christians deal with divorce, financial crisis, loss of a loved one/grief, sickness, depression and fear or any number of other problems in life. We turn to God in prayer for comfort and to the Bible for answers and wisdom.

This doesn't mean that we sit around waiting for God to solve all our problems. On the contrary, we draw our strength and guidance from our Faith and this allows us to tackle our problems head on. As Christians we are like everyone else in that we must do the work required to address life's challenges and sorrows. God expects us to activly labor to resolve our problems. But we know God is with us and we can continue to have peace in our hearts through it all.

And when it appears that the problem is so great that there's no way out, we always remember one very important thing: When man sees only one way to resolve a problem, God has a thousand ways!

Learn more about this author, Kathy Weaver.
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