Challenges into Worship

We all have them...challenges.  We face them every day, whether big or small.  It can be work, relationships, family responsibilities, physical, spiritual, mental...and whatever they are we are given Truth in 2 Corinthians 4:16 "Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." 

Before I even read this today, I was thinking about my own challenges.  I had a thought that really got me thinking.  I ask God to help me deal with them, or (more often) to take them away.  But, what if the struggles I have or challenges I face...what if it's only me who is hanging onto them, and God has already released me from it?  What do I do then?

Verse 18 continues "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  This is not just for the biggest trials in life, but the little ones we see everyday as well.  For instance (a little one), I struggle to keep up with  housework/laundry/meal preparation/etc..  But, when I remember that I am being renewed day by day and keep my focus on what is unseen, I see my housework in God's light.  When I do that - I see my work at home as just what God has blessed and trusted me with...and if I'm serving God, my work transforms into worship.

If you have time, watch this video of the song "Do Everything" by Steven Curtis Chapman