This week we get to hear from Erica Botha. Stop by the contributor’s page to learn more about her.

At a basketball tournament I attended, a pastor gave a challenge that bears repeating.  He said the message was not his own but rather one he had heard many years before from a pastor that had been an encouragement to him. 

 He spoke of Benaiah, one of David’s Mighty Men.  A man, I honestly do not remember.  Sometimes it is so easy to skip over a list of names, yet if we slow down, we can see the message and encouragement found in Benaiah.  He is in the list of men in 2 Samuel 23.  Verse 20 says, “He went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.” 

The challenge presented to us that day was that Benaiah did a hard thing in a hard place on a hard day.  The hard thing was killing the lion.  The hard place was a pit.  The hard day was a day that snowed.  

Sometimes we have to do hard things in hard places on hard days.  I realized I would not be immune from this challenge.  As a wife, mom, and teacher, I will face hard things in hard places on hard days.  It will be God’s grace that carries me through those hard moments, hard places, or hard days.  His grace will support you too.  

We are reminded of this through Paul’s letter to the Corinthians when he said, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).The pastor reminded us that Jesus did a hard thing in a hard place on a hard day when he died on the cross for our sins.  

My heart was deeply convicted and encouraged by this message.  I will face those hard things in hard places on hard days, and because of Jesus’ willingness to do a hard thing in a hard place on a hard day, I know that those moments will come, but I will be able to make it through them.