Back in January, we were paying less than two dollars per gallon of gas. Certainly, a very tolerable cost considering the past several years and the fluctuations of gas prices. Now, just four months later, it’s four-and-a-half bucks a gallon… or more! I filled Mean Joe (my truck) the other day and came up just short of a ridiculous one hundred dollars. For one tank of gas!

But do you want to know what’s even worse? That’s when I fill up the truck and then a little later in the day discover LaNelle’s car also needs a tankful. On the same day! Ouch!!

Nevertheless, with all the complaining, worrying, and concerns, we still fill up those tanks and keep going. It’s hard to live life if we can’t get from here to there. It’s the cost of navigating our days.

But, man, the cost can be steep!

I feel like the little mouse chorus in the movie Babe: “The way things are.” But there’s a lot of truth in that phrase. And, quite frankly, there can be some peace with those four words as well. I’m not talking about the serenity that comes from sitting by a calm mountain lake on a perfect day. I’m talking about the removal of the frustration that constantly wants to push its way in every time something else happens that we really wish wasn’t happening. We just got done with one negative, or maybe are still dealing with it, and here comes another one. Two fill-’er-up moments in one day! Couldn’t we at least spread them out a little bit?

But no, it doesn’t always work that way. Why? Because that’s “...the way things are.”

I need to tread carefully from here on in this little article. I do not in any way want to sound as if we shouldn’t pray for God to change our circumstances. He can. Sometimes He does. But not always. Our prayers about our struggles, especially when we are feeling overwhelmed (“I don’t need this right now!”), are healthy. We are taking our very lives to the One who holds our life breath in His hands.  (Acts 17:25)

Part of the understanding, though, is that God’s way for us may not always make sense and it sure may not always be comfortable. If He chooses to leave you or me in a difficult dilemma, then He has reasons that we may not know...but we trust. It is the prayer of Jesus in the garden as He confessed to His Father that what was about to happen was too big, too difficult, and too overwhelming to take on. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”  (Matthew 26:39)

God promised us that He will carry us through whatever we face. He doesn’t always pick us up and maneuver us around the pain or hurt. He doesn’t always grab our hand and show us an alternative path that avoids the next challenge. He will go with us through it.

Paul prayed three times that the “thorn in the flesh,” whatever that might have been, would be taken away from him. He probably presented a pretty good argument as to why it would be better for his work if he didn’t have a physical hindrance. And yet, God refused. He told Paul. “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (II Corinthians 11:9) The result was that Paul learned to actually boast about his weakness because God’s strength would be seen in it. He realized he was truly strong in those moments because he better understood, experienced, and appreciated the power of Jesus in his struggle.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, he told them he was “in chains” (prison) because of his faith. (Ephesians 6:20) You would expect he would ask them to pray for his release. But he didn’t. In one of the most insightful statements to Paul’s faith that we have, he ended his letter by asking them to pray “...also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:19-20)

The circumstances can become secondary to the desire to always serve, be faithful, and honor God in every situation and moment. Even when life is piling on. Even when it seems everything is against us. Even when it just isn’t fair.

So, we fill up both tanks on the same day and then can get to where we need to be. God gets us to where we need to be through the moment, not in spite of it.