One of the things I have been learning is that everyone has problems. You have problems. I have problems. I don’t know anyone who does not have problems! If you are alive and breathing, you have a problem. If you don’t think you have a problem, your problem is worse than you realize! Something else I have been learning about problems is that when you get rid of a problem, it is replaced with a brand new problem! Some people think that being a Christian and letting God into your life is going to make your problems go away. Show me someone who will say that, and I will show you an idiot! Even Jesus had problems!

So how do you keep your head above water when your problems keep threatening to drag you down under? Let me share with you some of the things that I have been learning from my lousy problems:

The first thing is realizing that having problems is not your problem! If you didn’t have problems, you would be dead! Don’t be surprised that you have problems! It is normal to have problems! Right along with that is to realize that because we always have problems, it is normal to be down, depressed, and negative now and then.

I enjoy science fiction and fantasy books. One of my favorite series is The Belgariad, by David Eddings. One of the characters in that series is a knight named Mandorallen. In the story, he is known as “the mightiest knight alive.” At one point in the story, Mandorallen, for the first time in his life, experiences fear. It is a crippling problem to him, so much so that he considers that it is best for him to leave his friends, lest he become incapacitated by fear and becomes a liability to the group when they need him most. After sharing his concerns with the group, one of his compatriots, Durnik, assures him that fear is part of the human condition, and that it might help if he just learned to laugh at it. In that way, he could acknowledge it, face it, and let his fear know that he was not going to listen to it. Mandorallen ends up taking Durnik’s advice a bit literally, going into battle laughing as he fought.

The point of sharing that is that if your problems are making you frustrated, angry, anxious, or depressed, that is normal! Don’t let people get you down for getting negative now and then! Fudging the truth or masking your feelings is not going to help anything. And like Mandorallen, find a way to laugh at it.

My mentor Charlie Jones felt the same way and looked for ways to find humor in his problems and the failure side of his life. Charlie built a $100 million company before he was 40 years old and spoke for major corporations and to audiences of tens of thousands all over the world. One of the reasons he was such a successful communicator and leader was because of his humorous transparency about his own headaches, heartaches, and failures that he had along the way, and frankly still had. For instance, he would say,

“I’m going home at night, after another exciting day of misery, and I am thinking, ‘No one listened to me all day! Now I’m going home, and no one is going to listen to me all night! God, God! Why don’t my children listen to me better?’ God said, ‘Aren’t you glad they listen to you better than you listen to me?’ I say, ‘I’m sorry I brought it up!’ You say, ‘Well, that isn’t funny!’ Well of course it is funny! Because even things that are sad, if it is true, truth makes you laugh.”

There is a real truth in that. Laughing will not make your problems go away. But even a little laughter can make your problems look a lot different. Charlie taught me that when you were learning to have fun, especially when things were going wrong, you are able to relate better to people and to life and think more clearly.

Working through problems, solving problems, around problems, and living with problems you can’t get away from is part of life. Learning to work through problems is how we grow. Learning to fix our problems, or navigate our problems, is how we get made. You know that is true. The best people I know have been through more problems than myself. Not only that, but they have bigger problems! People would often ask Charlie how he became such a success. “Good judgment,” he would answer. “How did you get your good judgment?” “Experience.” “How did you get your experience? “Poor judgment!”

You don’t get to be successful at anything—it doesn’t matter if you are talking business or personal or spiritual or financial—unless you are learning that problems are not a sign that your life isn’t working, but that life is working through problems. I don’t like it any more than you do, but it is true!

Another thing I have been learning is that some of my problems are there so I can identify with other people who have a problem. Sometimes people come to me and say, “Why me?” When I hear the “why me” question, I often hand over a copy of Oswald Chambers’ daily devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, and have them read the first few sentences of the reading for November 5th out loud:

“If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others.”

More often than not, the person would read it again, the tears would come, and a new perspective helps them see their problem in a whole different light! What a thing to be learning! Oh, how that thought has helped me!

The most profound lessons I’ve been learning from my problems are spiritual. Life, I have been learning, is about two lessons. The first lesson is: You are not—and were never meant to be—enough. When I share this, it either brings a sigh of relief or shock and disbelief. Some people feel liberated, realizing they don’t have to be something they’re not. Others are confused because they have spent their lives striving to be enough, trying to prove their worth. If you’re striving to be enough, I’m here to tell you: you’re not. You won’t be enough for your spouse, kids, parents, job, or friends.

Once you start learning that, God will start teaching you the second lesson: in Jesus, you will always have enough.

We often resist the idea that dark valleys and challenges are where God wants us to be. It’s natural to pray for deliverance, but sometimes we need to go through the valley instead of avoiding it. The truth is, the only way to learn that you are not enough, and that Jesus is, is by facing situations where if God does not rescue us, we are lost.

God does not promise that we will never suffer from problems. He does promise that He will be with us in them, and that He will see us through them. And in doing so, He will show us that He is always enough.

That is never easy. It is hard to trust that God will provide and protect, and save in the midst of forces, circumstances, and even evil that we cannot control and do not even understand. Our need to survive often trumps our faith in these times, and we attempt to fight our way out.

But if the Father could be trusted to lead Jesus to the cross and the grave and still not lose Him, can we not trust God to guide us through our darkest times? While we may not have all the answers, we can trust God to be our eyes when we cannot see, and to hold us with His love when we do not understand.

I don’t need to worry about not being enough to handle any problem, challenge, or heartache because Jesus has promised to provide all His wisdom, strength, resources, confidence, and finances needed for any situation. He is never short on any of these.

Remember, this side of the ground two things are true: 1) you will always have problems, and 2) when you are done with the problems you have, you will find them exchanged with new problems! That doesn’t change when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Becoming a Christian will not make your problems go away. In fact, they might get worse! But if you do, you will never need to worry about being enough again (you may worry, but you don’t need to worry). Because in Christ, with Christ, and through Christ, you will always have enough, because He is enough.