08. Hope in the Hard with Melissa Kruger
Today we’re talking to with our friend Melissa Kruger about how to have hope in the hard moments of life. We pray this episode encourages you to look to the Lord in whatever hardship you’re facing today. Melissa Kruger serves as vice president of discipleship programming for The Gospel Coalition (TGC). She’s the author of multiple books, including The Envy of Eve: Finding Contentment in a Covetous World, Walking with God in the Season of Motherhood, Growing Together: Taking Mentoring Beyond Small Talk and Prayer Requests, and Wherever You Go I Want You to Know. Her husband, Mike, is the president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte and they have three children.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
How does hardship play into the Christian life?
A lot of times we can feel like if we have any hardship at all then maybe we just shouldn't be doing whatever it is. How do we handle difficulty in ministry and discerning whether God is calling us in a different direction or if we should persevere through it?
What might contribute to seasons of hardship in ministry?
I wonder if the gap between our expectations and reality in our ministry might lend itself to some personal despair or discontentment with our own work. Could you speak to that?
What helps you wade through the waters of your own heart and anchor yourself in truth as you're navigating various hardships?
How do you keep an eternal perspective when you're bogged down in the very mundane tasks that come with work and ministry?
How do you lift your eyes to heaven and remember the hope that we have?
What it is that helps you make sense of unique hardships in ministry and to persevere in a God-glorifying manner? Is there anything that helps you keep going when you feel like you're just gritting it out?
As you face hardship, what does it look like for you to prioritize time with the Lord in your Bible?
What are some passages you've clung to in difficult seasons?
What brings you rest in the midst of difficult seasons in ministry?
NOTES & QUOTES
“When you hear Jesus say, ‘In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome it.’ We like to focus on that second part like, ‘Oh, he's overcome it!” But no, “In this world, you will have trouble.’”
“The disciples are being killed left and right. Those who follow Jesus are being persecuted. If anything could attest to the validity of what we serve, it should have been squelched in the first century. And yet it has become a religion that is reaching people all over the globe.”
“It's almost part of our family resemblance with our Savior, that we will suffer. When we have that expectation, it really transforms how we suffer in ministry. I think that's really important because when I go in with the expectation that Satan is going to come after me and the world is going to hate what I'm doing, it actually empowers me to be courageous in it.”
“When I actually expect [suffering] to come, I feel a little bit like Joshua going into the promised land, where God is saying, ‘Be strong and courageous because I'm with you.’ And when I hear that, I have courage. But when I think it should be easy, I can get really quickly discouraged.”
Lauren: “I know it can be so hard to do what Melissa said—to see suffering as part of the territory of being in the family of God, part of our “family resemblance with our Savior.” But truly, hardship is a part of the Christian life. Suffering, in fact, is promised to the believer. 1 Peter 4:12-13 says “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” God does not promise a life of ease on this side of heaven. He does however, promise deep abiding peace and joy in Christ amidst the suffering we experience. Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” We have the very presence of this Savior who truly knows our weakness and the pain of our suffering. That is how we can, as Romans 5:3-4 says, “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Because we know this God is Emmanuel - God with us. We can count our hope on this God. We can trust him. Friends, if we believe that God is fully in control (which he is), and if we believe that he is holy and deserving of glory (which he is), and if we know that he has a plan to bring about our ultimate good and glory (which he does), then we can trust that even our suffering is a perfect part of his plan to bring about that glory and goodness, and that even in our suffering his presence upholds and sustains us. Our life and our ministry can be characterized by pain and suffering, but if we are in Christ, we can know that all of this is true. And THAT is why we are therefore able to have immense joy in the time of suffering: because Christ himself is our present joy and our future hope.”
“Sometimes the very blessings that we have can actually weaken us in our dependence upon the Lord.”
“I think there could be a real temptation that if I'm not the best at something I should just quit. Rather than just serving faithfully where I am.”
“We just need to build the kingdom where we're called to build and let the rest go. And if I'm helping my child memorize Scripture today and that's my call, that's the kingdom work I'm doing today. Or if I'm helping 2,000 kids memorize Scripture through writing a book, that's my call for today. What matters not is the work as much as who we're working for. And when I can shift my focus to “I'm working for the King,” then it changes everything.”
Lauren: “I don’t know what it is that makes you weary. Maybe it’s the monotony of your daily work: changing another diaper, sending another email, making another copyedit, pouring another latte. Maybe it’s the overwhelm of what is set before you: the magnitude of tasks that need to be done, the weight of responsibility to raise godly children, the crushing pressure of work. Regardless of where you are…I hope you’ll hear Melissa’s encouragement to simply serve faithfully where you are. Not to look to the right or the left at what he or she is doing, but as the Proverb says to “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.” It can be so easy in our life and ministry to get caught up in comparison or overwhelm or shame or discontent (you name it, the emotions can flood in, and they bring along with them so much weariness). But perhaps remembering Melissa’s encouragement to think less of the “worth” of the work we’re doing and more of who we’re working for. We are working for the King. Everything we do is valuable. Every life we engage is an eternal soul. Every task we set our hand to has eternal meaning. It’s this truth that can give us endurance even amidst hardships in life and in ministry. So I pray that even today you would find the strength to see the value of the work the Lord has set before you—whatever it is—because of who you are doing that work for. We are simply called to be faithful to him. He is both the One we are working for and the One who sustains us in that work. So even in your weariness, may the Spirit give you the strength to simply look to Christ and to serve him faithfully.
“If you die in this world, it doesn't matter because Christ was raised from the dead. Therefore, whatever we do here, if it's done for the Lord it's not in vain because we have eternity.”
“The world will say we're fools for Christ, but that's the wisdom of the Lord.”
“I've got one life to live, and I want to live it for the life that's to come.”
“I'm being counted worthy to suffer for the gospel. The Lord has entrusted this suffering to me. May I glorify him in it. That changes things because I'm not following a Savior who didn't taste this. He tasted everything we might endure, and he did it for us. So if we are then being entrusted with the suffering, knowing that one day all will be made right, that is the hope that we keep reminding each other about.”
“It's not only that sometimes when it gets hard, we want to quit. I think sometimes we maybe wrongly encourage one another to quit.”
“Be on your guard and remember to encourage one another. All of this is worth it.”
“[Reading the Bible] has got to be a non-negotiable. I can't say that enough. It has got to be more important than brushing your teeth. It has got to be more important than making healthy meals or working out. All those are good things. We prioritize a lot of good things. But I am more convinced if I want to hear those words, and I want to hear those words, ‘Well done good and faithful servant,’ we have to be in our Bibles. And if I could say anything to people listening, the only strength you will have when hardships come are the Spirit-empowered words of Jesus that Jesus himself said. This is more important than bread. Your word gives life. And we do not understand how. I cannot understand why the words of this book somehow are used to give us life. But I know as the psalmist said, ‘My comfort and my suffering is this: Your words preserve my life.’ And it's true. I can't tell you why, I can't tell you how, but I've walked with Jesus for 30 years now and I know it's true, more than I know anything else.”
“I think we find lots of ways to excuse our time not to be in the Word. But there is time.”
“If you've had the experience of walking through scorched places…somehow the Lord is guiding you. You're not lost in that. You didn't make some awful mistake. The Lord is guiding you and he is going to actually satisfy you and make you strong there. And you are going to be so watered that you're going to be able to refresh others. The Lord in his work through you is actually going to make you a place of refreshment in the midst of a scorched place. That's so hopeful.”
“I believe that he is always in control, and he is using everything for some good. He is working all things for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose. That's true. And that knowledge sustains us in the middle of hard times.”
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What has contributed to seasons of hardship in your life? Share if you feel comfortable.
Has the gap between your expectations and reality ever led you to personal discontent or despair?
What Scripture passages help you anchor yourself in truth as you’re navigating hardship? Consider memorizing the passage(s) this week.
What are tangible steps you can take to prioritize time with the Lord in his Word?
What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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