God's skilled to handle the skillets.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. 

In this world you will have trouble. 

But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Life sure can be unexpected and painful sometimes can't it?

The other morning I was getting some stuff done around the house and it was going good...until I was putting dishes away.We have a hanging rack in our kitchen that the pots and pans hang from.

On my tippy toes I reached to hook one of the skillets. It looked like it was hooked so I looked away, it felt like it was on good so I let go....Can you guess what happened next? Yep.

Skillet came shooting straight down making direct contact with the top of my dome.

Unexpected? YES. Painful? Absofrigginlutely.

I had no choice but to fall to me knees. I grabbed my head and tried to keep myself from face planting straight into the tile.

All I kept picturing was the cartoons where the character gets hit in the head with a skillet and their eyes bug out and a huge knot rockets up from their noggin. I was convinced I'd look over at the skillet and see an Amber's head sized indention in it.

A painful experience I could have done without but isn't that just life?

We can be going along just fine and then BAM... skillet to the skull! Maybe a loved one gets sick, you get an unexpected bill in the mail, a friend hurts you, you receive bad news from the doctor.The list goes on.

The truth is painful situations are going to come just like this verse says.It doesn't say 'you may have trouble' or 'there's a very good chance you'll have trouble.' Nope, it says 'you WILL have trouble.'

Jesus knew how hard this world would be. He knew the pain, the struggles,the temptations, the heartache.He experienced it all.

Knowing trials are coming may not make them any easier to handle when they get here. We're still human, we still react on emotions.But the thing is, we don't have to handle them!

The peace Jesus is referring to in this verse is the peace that He wants us to have in him and him alone not in circumstances that can change. And the reason we can have that peace no matter what happens is because everything we face or could ever face he has already overcome on the cross!

That sickness, He already overcame. That financial struggle, He already overcame. That diagnosis your loved one just got, He already overcame. That hurtful relationship, He already overcame. That fear, He already overcame. That worry, He already overcame. That past hurt, He already overcame. That future struggle, He already overcame!

Don't you see? What Jesus did on the cross covered it ALL. Not some, ALL. Jesus isn't thrown off by the unexpected and painful things that come our way. He hurts with us but he's not worried about it because he's already taken care of it. That's why he says we can have peace. He's got it. All of it. Let Him handle it.He's way more capable anyway.

Whatever painful situation you are in or that may come your way know it's already covered by grace. FREELY given grace.

So when life hurts, just hit your knees and trust that God is skilled to handle the skillets!

Prayer Starter: God I'm hurting. I never saw this coming. It's painful and scary. I don't know how to handle it so help me give it over to you. Help me to focus on the power of the cross instead of my circumstances.Remind me that Jesus overcame anything I am and will ever face and give me peace in that. Thank you for sending your son to die on a cross for me so that I could have hope in a hurting world.