5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
#WalkwithGod
#Dedication/Devotion
#Trials-HardTimes
#Overcoming
#TrustGod
#Faithfulness
#SheilaWalsh
Closed captions
Show Timecode
| Sheila Walsh: Why Is Life So Hard? | 5 Minutes With Jesus | June 30, 2026
- One of the greatest truths of our faith is that
- 00:00:00.023 --> 00:00:02.459
- Christ has promised that he will never leave us,
- 00:00:02.459 --> 00:00:05.662
- Never forsake us.
- 00:00:05.662 --> 00:00:07.263
- Before jesus ascended his father,
- 00:00:07.263 --> 00:00:09.566
- He told his closest friends this and be sure of this
- 00:00:09.566 --> 00:00:13.269
- I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
- 00:00:13.269 --> 00:00:18.174
- Whatever you're facing right now,
- 00:00:18.174 --> 00:00:20.810
- Remember that you're not alone.
- 00:00:20.810 --> 00:00:22.645
- You're not helpless. you are held.
- 00:00:22.645 --> 00:00:26.216
- Life may be hard for a time, but god is in control.
- 00:00:26.216 --> 00:00:30.253
- He loves you and he is faithful.
- 00:00:30.253 --> 00:00:36.860
- I know you know this, but life can be hard.
- 00:00:37.794 --> 00:00:40.597
- I mean, really tough.
- 00:00:40.597 --> 00:00:41.998
- And our first question is why do you ever struggle to
- 00:00:41.998 --> 00:00:45.668
- Understand why life can be so hard when we know
- 00:00:45.668 --> 00:00:49.038
- That god is so good and so powerful?
- 00:00:49.038 --> 00:00:52.709
- Like, if you're in a hard place right now and you've asked
- 00:00:52.709 --> 00:00:55.445
- God to get you out of it and he hasn't.
- 00:00:55.445 --> 00:00:58.748
- What do you do with that?
- 00:00:58.748 --> 00:01:00.450
- I remember where our son was, a little boy.
- 00:01:00.450 --> 00:01:02.519
- He came into the kitchen to tell me that a bird
- 00:01:02.519 --> 00:01:04.621
- Was caught in the string of his kite.
- 00:01:04.621 --> 00:01:06.589
- Well, i ran into the backyard and saw that a terrified bluejay
- 00:01:06.589 --> 00:01:09.993
- Had one of its legs caught.
- 00:01:09.993 --> 00:01:11.461
- It was struggling against a string
- 00:01:11.461 --> 00:01:13.396
- Wrapped around a fence post, and it couldn't free itself.
- 00:01:13.396 --> 00:01:16.699
- So i approached the bird carefully and as gently as i
- 00:01:16.699 --> 00:01:20.003
- Could, took its leg and my hand began to unwind the string.
- 00:01:20.003 --> 00:01:23.706
- Obviously it was scared.
- 00:01:23.706 --> 00:01:24.641
- The bird pecked my hand,
- 00:01:24.641 --> 00:01:25.942
- But finally it was free and it took to the sky.
- 00:01:25.942 --> 00:01:29.312
- For weeks after that, every time we were in the yard
- 00:01:29.312 --> 00:01:32.115
- And we heard a bird cry,
- 00:01:32.115 --> 00:01:33.550
- Christian would look up and say, you're welcome.
- 00:01:33.550 --> 00:01:35.985
- Assuming the bird or one of its relatives come back to say
- 00:01:35.985 --> 00:01:39.222
- Thank you for the something about that picture.
- 00:01:39.222 --> 00:01:42.825
- Picture of that bird caught in the kite
- 00:01:42.825 --> 00:01:44.761
- String that stayed with me.
- 00:01:44.761 --> 00:01:46.429
- I wonder at times if this is how we see god.
- 00:01:46.429 --> 00:01:49.999
- Are we poor little birds trying to free ourselves.
- 00:01:49.999 --> 00:01:53.036
- The places where we're held captive?
- 00:01:53.036 --> 00:01:55.838
- Pecking at god's hand and filled with terror.
- 00:01:55.838 --> 00:01:58.975
- You know,
- 00:01:59.275 --> 00:02:00.443
- That's how the great writer dietrich bonhoeffer felt,
- 00:02:00.443 --> 00:02:03.046
- And his final days in prison
- 00:02:03.046 --> 00:02:04.747
- Before he was martyred
- 00:02:04.747 --> 00:02:06.115
- For his faith, he poured out the fears of his soul.
- 00:02:06.115 --> 00:02:10.019
- And in his diary he wrote.
- 00:02:10.019 --> 00:02:12.488
- Restless and longing and sick like a bird in a cage,
- 00:02:12.488 --> 00:02:16.826
- Struggling for breath
- 00:02:16.826 --> 00:02:18.628
- As though hands were compressing my throat, yearning
- 00:02:18.628 --> 00:02:22.065
- For colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds.
- 00:02:22.065 --> 00:02:26.202
- Thirsting for words of kindness.
- 00:02:26.202 --> 00:02:28.738
- So why doesn't god just cut us free and let us fly?
- 00:02:28.738 --> 00:02:33.209
- Is the struggle supposed to make us stronger?
- 00:02:33.209 --> 00:02:37.513
- There are three things i know for sure.
- 00:02:37.513 --> 00:02:40.483
- One, we are living in a fallen world.
- 00:02:40.483 --> 00:02:43.319
- Life in a fallen world is hard.
- 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:45.788
- When sin entered the world.
- 00:02:45.788 --> 00:02:47.223
- So, dick. pain and suffering.
- 00:02:47.223 --> 00:02:49.659
- And jesus told us
- 00:02:49.659 --> 00:02:51.027
- It was going to be that way on the night
- 00:02:51.027 --> 00:02:53.029
- When he was betrayed, he told his closest friends.
- 00:02:53.029 --> 00:02:55.898
- I've told you all this so that you may have peace in me
- 00:02:55.898 --> 00:03:00.203
- Here on earth.
- 00:03:00.203 --> 00:03:01.271
- You will have many trials and sorrows,
- 00:03:01.271 --> 00:03:04.707
- But take heart, because i've overcome the world.
- 00:03:04.707 --> 00:03:08.111
- Number two, christ said he has overcome the world.
- 00:03:08.111 --> 00:03:12.515
- This tells us that pain and suffering have a shelf life.
- 00:03:12.515 --> 00:03:16.319
- It will not always be this way.
- 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:18.488
- At times
- 00:03:18.488 --> 00:03:19.122
- It can feel harder to watch
- 00:03:19.122 --> 00:03:20.323
- A loved one suffer than to suffer ourselves.
- 00:03:20.323 --> 00:03:23.226
- I remember my darling friend jennifer
- 00:03:23.226 --> 00:03:25.228
- Rothschild, who's completely blind, telling me that there's
- 00:03:25.228 --> 00:03:28.464
- A difference between spectator grace and participant grace.
- 00:03:28.464 --> 00:03:33.636
- There's a grace
- 00:03:33.636 --> 00:03:34.671
- That's given to us at the moment when we need it
- 00:03:34.671 --> 00:03:37.707
- Most, that those watching might not experience.
- 00:03:37.707 --> 00:03:41.878
- And number three, we get to tell god the whole truth.
- 00:03:41.878 --> 00:03:45.682
- We're not asked to pretend that
- 00:03:45.682 --> 00:03:46.916
- Everything is fine when our hearts are broken.
- 00:03:46.916 --> 00:03:49.919
- I find great comfort, honesty and hope in the psalms.
- 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:54.390
- Like in psalm 13, we read, o lord,
- 00:03:54.390 --> 00:03:57.160
- How long will you forget me?
- 00:03:57.160 --> 00:03:59.228
- Forever.
- 00:03:59.228 --> 00:04:00.196
- How long will you look the other way?
- 00:04:00.196 --> 00:04:02.298
- How long must i struggle
- 00:04:02.298 --> 00:04:03.633
- With anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart.
- 00:04:03.633 --> 00:04:07.236
- Every day.
- 00:04:07.236 --> 00:04:08.571
- How long will my enemy have the upper hand?
- 00:04:08.571 --> 00:04:11.541
- Turn and answer me, o lord my god.
- 00:04:11.541 --> 00:04:14.410
- Restore the sparkle to my eyes or i will die.
- 00:04:14.410 --> 00:04:18.114
- Don't let my enemies gloat saying we have defeated him.
- 00:04:18.114 --> 00:04:21.918
- Don't let them rejoice, am i downfall?
- 00:04:21.918 --> 00:04:25.188
- Well, having poured out his pain and his questions,
- 00:04:25.188 --> 00:04:28.958
- David turns his face and his heart upwards.
- 00:04:28.958 --> 00:04:32.428
- And he says this.
- 00:04:32.428 --> 00:04:33.363
- But i trust in your unfailing love.
- 00:04:33.363 --> 00:04:37.166
- I will rejoice because you are rescued. me.
- 00:04:37.166 --> 00:04:40.603
- I will sing to the lord because he is good to me.
- 00:04:40.603 --> 00:04:45.208
- Number four we are never abandoned.
- 00:04:45.208 --> 00:04:48.845
- God is good.
- 00:04:48.845 --> 00:04:50.246
- One of the greatest truths of
- 00:04:50.246 --> 00:04:51.614
- Our faith is that
- 00:04:51.614 --> 00:04:52.682
- Christ has promised that he will never leave us,
- 00:04:52.682 --> 00:04:55.885
- Never forsake us.
- 00:04:55.885 --> 00:04:57.487
- Before jesus ascended his father,
- 00:04:57.487 --> 00:04:59.789
- He told his closest friends this and be sure of this
- 00:04:59.789 --> 00:05:03.493
- I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
- 00:05:03.493 --> 00:05:08.398
- Whatever you're facing right now,
- 00:05:08.398 --> 00:05:11.033
- Remember that you're not alone.
- 00:05:11.033 --> 00:05:12.869
- You're not helpless. you are held.
- 00:05:12.869 --> 00:05:16.439
- Life may be hard for a time, but god is in control.
- 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:20.476
- He loves you and he is faithful.
- 00:05:20.476 --> 00:05:23.579
- Let's pray.
- 00:05:23.579 --> 00:05:25.248
- What?
- 00:05:25.481 --> 00:05:26.015
- I want to thank you
- 00:05:26.015 --> 00:05:27.216
- That we are not like helpless birds caught in a string,
- 00:05:27.216 --> 00:05:30.353
- But that we are being held in the arms of a loving father.
- 00:05:30.353 --> 00:05:35.124
- And so often, lord, when we look back,
- 00:05:35.124 --> 00:05:37.093
- We see how you spared us from things,
- 00:05:37.093 --> 00:05:39.796
- How you delivered us from things that were hard to see
- 00:05:39.796 --> 00:05:42.732
- At the time.
- 00:05:42.732 --> 00:05:43.833
- But we just want to pause and acknowledge
- 00:05:43.833 --> 00:05:45.601
- That you are good and that we trust you.
- 00:05:45.601 --> 00:05:48.371
- In jesus name, amen.
- 00:05:48.371 --> 00:05:48.371
