You’ll end up on the witness stand, called to testify. Make up your mind right now not to worry about it. I’ll give you the words and wisdom that will reduce all your accusers to stammers and stutters.  Luke 21:15 (The Message)

Jesus and his disciples are walking by the Temple in Jerusalem and the disciples are talking about the perfection of the Temple. Jesus tells them that there will come a time when it will all crumble to dust. The disciples ask for a checklist of signs so that they will know that the time is coming soon.

Checklists can be very comforting. There is hope that, if we follow the recipe, the final dish will be tasty and appealing. If we follow the instructions, the lawnmower will come together perfectly and will be able to start mowing the lawn with the first push of the button. Sometimes those hopes are fulfilled but sometimes they are not.

Instead of giving the people a checklist of the end times, Jesus instead tells the people about all the natural disasters that will continue to happen in the world – including fights between nations in one long war. There will be earthquakes, people will starve to death, and stars will fall from the skies. But, before that, people who follow Jesus will be hunted down like dogs, thrown in jail, and some will be executed. Then Jesus says something fairly incomprehensible, “Make up your mind... not to worry about it.”

New believers are often told to, “Go to God with all your problems and he will sort them out for you.” Sometimes there is an expectation that our paths will all smooth out and we won’t have any more troubles. John 16:33 makes a strong statement when it says, “In this world, you will continue to have troubles. But take heart because I have overcome the world.”

As long as we are existing in the world, we will have problems – no matter who we follow. Sometimes the problems increase when we follow Jesus. Once we take a stand on our beliefs, others may turn their backs on us, accuse us of all sorts of things. In some countries, people are locked up and killed for believing in Jesus.

One universal aspect of God is that, because of Jesus, we have one friend who will never leave us. We have one who will stand in our corner and fight with us. We can face all the troubles that the world can throw at us because we believe that God will lead us through our difficulties to a better place on the other side.

We may still come down with unending health issues. We may be brought to court for falsehoods that others have said about us, and we may never learn how to cook successfully; but God has a different definition of success and, as long as we keep putting one foot in front of the other and trusting in him, it will – eventually – turn out pretty good.

Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She has recently published her first book, Jessie’s Corner: Something To Think About, which is now available for purchase. Based on several lesser-known scriptures from the Bible, this is a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.