When Life Gets Harder, Keep Carrying the Cross: Episode 398

The moment you decide you want to do better, why does the world feel like it gets meaner, louder, and harder to survive? We sit with that uncomfortable reality and bring it back to Scripture, because trials and tribulations are not random when you’re walking with Christ. I read from 2 Corinthians and Ephesians and talk through the pain, sacrifice, and suffering so many of us carry quietly, plus the question we’re almost afraid to say out loud: “Dear God, why me?”

We reflect on what it means to share in Christ’s suffering and still expect His glory, righteousness, and victory. I unpack 2 Corinthians 5:7, “we walk by faith, not by sight,” and why faith is more than optimism. It’s trust, loyalty, and movement when you don’t get the full plan, just the next step. If you’ve been stuck in autopilot, mistaking familiar discomfort for “normal,” this will challenge you to keep moving with God as your lamp.

We also talk spiritual warfare in plain terms through Ephesians 6:12, and how modern life can train us to live by what we see. Politics, celebrity influence, the music we absorb, AI, and social media can build convincing false realities that steal attention and dull discernment. I share why it matters to slow down, listen for truth, and test what resonates in your soul, not just what spikes your emotions.

If you’re carrying something too heavy, we end with a simple practice: lay the burden at God’s feet, keep your heart posture honest, and trust His timing as He shapes your wisdom for the purpose you’re praying for. Subscribe, share this with someone in a storm, and leave a review if it helps. What’s the hardest part of walking by faith right now?

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Have a lovely day and stay blessed

Transcript

Welcome And The Cost Of Faith

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back, listeners. I'm Robin Black, and this is It's All About Healing Podcast. In today's episode, I'm going to be reading from 2 Corinthians and also Ephesians. But I wanted to speak about our trials and tribulations, the pain and the sacrifices that we make, the suffering that we go through. I know a lot of us will say, Dear God, why me? This is far too much. Haven't I endured enough? But that's not what he teaches us. He teaches us biblical law. Even in 2 Timothy 2.12, it says, We suffer, we shall reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. Right? He speaks about the hardships and also remaining faithful to Christ. He bore all of our sins on that cross. All of that pain, everything that he endured, he endured it for us. God sacrificed his son for us. It definitely won't be easy.

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Right?

SPEAKER_00 1:13

And it's biblical law, he tells us that it won't be easy. So if we reign with him, we suffer with him. We reign with his pain. We reign with his suffering. We reign with all of his hardships. We reign with everything that he bore for us. But we also reign with his glory. We reign with

Why Darkness Pushes Back

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his righteousness. We reign with his victory. So when our times get hard, we have to pick up that cross and keep moving forward because we know who lives in us. Being born into this world, we were born into a world of sin. But it is he who saves us from sin. So when we, a lot of people, what do they quote, say, when you get on this God journey, right? Why is whenever I want to get close to God, my life becomes harder and harder. People who are with God, they have, they have to struggle so much. Why is that? Because of this darkness that we were born into. It's like you're born into a game that you didn't really want to be, right? We just we happen to be here. But it's like that feeling of being in the wilderness when you want to get out of a gang, you have to get jumped out. That's how it is here in this dark world. When you say, I don't, I no longer want to do this, I just I'm done conforming to this darkness. Something in my spirit, in my soul, deep down, is telling me this is not it. I want to do better for myself. The moment you say I want to do better for myself, that's when all the nastiness comes out, right? People and their nasty attitudes, those, those demons that are, that people are wrestling with, they don't like that. They don't want you to go home. They don't want you to know that that what God has done for you, He's already forgiven you. He doesn't want you to remember that. He wants you to stay here, conform to the darkness. So when we look for comfort, we seek comfort, we just say, Hey, I just, I just want everything to just be normal. Can I please just have a normal month where nothing goes wrong? Can I please just have a normal year, a normal day, a normal whatever the case may be?

Finding God In Every Storm

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But we have to look for God in every storm that we face. Because every storm that we face, we're gonna face those storms, right? He tells us that. It's the enemy who wants to hide it from us, who wants to give us a false reality, make us feel and see all everything is just, oh, everything's just gonna be perfect. It's gonna be great, we're gonna get a lot of money, we're gonna do a lot of this, we're gonna do a lot of that. No, that's not how the world works. The truth hurts. And God speaks the truth. He tells us this isn't gonna be easy, but it is gonna be worth it. And here in 2 Corinthians 5, 7, it states, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We're called to trust in God's unseen realities. Right? It's about his his character. The foundation that he already laid is so solid. Even if you don't know Jesus Christ, you know something about his name because that's the great foundation. His promises, his eternal plan. We can't focus on our thoughts, right? He says, He tells us that his thoughts are not our thoughts, his ways are not our ways. It's not about our human perception, it's not about our circumstances that we face here on earth. Faith, it's about loyalty, it's about trust. It involves our mind, our hearts, our actions. In the book of Psalm, he tells us your word is a lamp to my feet. Meaning, it's not about I have to be able to see everything that's about to happen. I need a breakdown of everything that's gonna happen, or else I won't move. No, we lead by faith, not by sight. Your word is a lamp to my feet. Meaning, he's gonna light the way. We just got to keep moving. And then that next step will come. But we have to have that trust. Without that trust, without that faith, without leaning on the unseen, we'll remain stagnant, we'll never move. And our lives remain at a standstill. Then we remain what? Just unhappy. Nothing's happening. You're on autopilot, but yet it's trickery, right? Because it confuses you and makes you feel that this is comfort, this is what I'm used to. I'm okay being here, I'm content. No, you're not. Being uncomfortable lets you know that you have God in you because we're in this dark world. When he's when he, sorry, please

Spiritual Warfare And AI Illusions

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forgive me. When he said in Ephesians 6.12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, against spiritual wickedness in high places. What's the reality of that? The reality of that is in high places, that's our politicians. That's going to be our celebrities, especially with some of the music that we listen to. And most importantly, AI with artificial intelligence. It has us focusing on what we can see. AI is developing false realities, while God and the unseen has the reality, He is our beginning and our end. But we're so focused on our human perception, we're so focused on what we can see, even when we're flipping through social media. If it doesn't grab us in the first five to 15 seconds, we're moving on to the next. We're not focused on what people are saying. Because we must remember that God speaks through us. He speaks through paintings, he speaks through spoken word, he speaks through poetry. He speaks through things that we can still read, things that we can hear. But it's not about the excitement. It's not about what's being backed by popular demand. It's not about watching numbers rise. It's about really listening to who's giving the word. What are they speaking about? Are they speaking the truth? Is it resonating with my soul? Is that what's capturing me? When he tells us that that we're it's about the spiritual wickedness, it's not about the physical. God is fighting battles that we cannot see. So when our life, when our lives get get hard here on earth, we can't complain. It's hard because we're we're that intermediary, right? We're we're trying to figure out heaven, hell, which is right, which is wrong, left, right. We're going all over the place. We're constantly being pulled with tug of war, Democrat or Republican, black or white, this or that, up or down, above or below. It's constantly a tug of war. That's what we're battling against. It's the spiritual wickedness, the spiritual warfare that we're facing, that we experience. But just as I said, we reign with him. We can't do this without him. We can't carry our cross without him. These battles are not ours, they're his.

Lay Your Burdens Down And Keep Going

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It's for him to carry. Whenever anything gets too heavy for you to carry, that's how you know, God, I lay all of my burdens down at your feet. This is far too heavy for me to carry. This wilderness is hard. This darkness is hard. He knew that. That's why we're not we're not here to try to be perfect. It is only he who is perfect. But every day we try to be that image of him. But he knows we can't take advantage of his forgiveness, of his mercy, of his grace. We can't take advantage of it. But he does understand that we're not perfect. That's why he sacrificed his son for us. He knew that we would make mistakes. He knew we were already born into sin. But that doesn't mean that doesn't give us room to just justify all of our actions and just say, okay, well, as long as I repent, I'll be forgiven for it, because that's not what it's like. It's about your heart posture. You still have to focus on the posture of your heart. Before whatever it is that you pray for, whatever it is that you were called to do, it's all in that anointed time. But we have to focus on building our wisdom, building that experience, preparing us for the blessings that we pray for, preparing us for the purpose that we were created for. And we have to focus on our eternal souls, focus on the road home. It's about redemption, finding our way back home to God. So when we complain about the trials and tribulations that we face, remember what the Bible says. Again, it's biblical law. Whatever we whatever he reigns, we reign with his suffering, we reign with his pain. We reign with those trials and tribulations, with those sacrifices, but we also reign with his glory, with his righteousness, and with his victory. Stay blessed.