When Life Punches You in the Face

Have you ever been punched in the face?

I have not. It does not seem like a pleasant experience, though.

I imagine getting punched is an unpleasant experience even in a boxing match, but at least we would (or should) expect to get punched in a boxing match.

But imagine that you are going about your daily life, just moving along, and out of nowhere…

BAM!!!!

You get punched in the face.

I suspect a punch is even more unpleasant when it is unexpected.

Even if you and I have never experienced an unexpected punch to the face physically, I imagine that we all have experienced an unexpected punch to the face figuratively…

~ A phone call in which you received devastating news

~ A diagnosis for you or a loved one that changed everything

~ A discovery of betrayal that shattered your world

~ A loved one lost suddenly and without warning

~ A triggering event from some trauma in your past

~ A sudden bout of depression

These unexpected punches from life can take many different forms, but they are all painful.

And often times, due to the pain and the suddenness, these life punches can cause us to feel disoriented and disillusioned.

There are a number of harmful ways to respond in these moments. We can…

~ Withdraw from God

~ Withdraw from people and isolate ourselves

~ Go about trying to fix everything on our own

~ Engage in self-medicating behaviors to distract us or numb our pain

There’s a big problem with these approaches, though:

They do not make anything better.

In fact, they can make already difficult situations even worse.

So how should we respond? What should we do when life punches us in the face?

That’s precisely what we’ll be talking about over the next few months.

Each month, we’ll cover a tip for how to respond to life’s face punches.

For now, if you have recently experienced a devastating blow, please know this:

God is not finished working yet!

I do not know for sure what God will do in your situation or mine, but I believe God is good and that He has a good plan for us.

Even when God’s children in the nation of Israel were exiles in Babylon—not a pleasant situation—these were His words to them:

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

~ Jeremiah 29:11

This means that even in the hard stuff, God is up to good stuff.

So keep moving forward, my friend, and come back for the next blog in which we’ll cover tip # 1 for responding to life’s face punches.

Your Sister-Friend,

Leah