When hope is lost, life seems almost unbearable. School, financial pressures, family issues and even the unknown future can overwhelm us. Our joy is almost completely stripped and we begin to forsake things that mean the most to us. Stress and frustration set in and make living life very difficult. Dealing with these things can seem nearly impossible. But, as I’ve found, shifting our focus actually brings the impossible into the possible.

As a 21 year-old junior, I have experienced my share of overwhelming ordeals. I have been supporting myself since coming into Biola in 2007. Coming into Biola I was informed of a health condition that would require me to take medicine every month. I was devastated at the fact that it was caused by my parents’ choices. Now I work not only to pay for tuition but for health expenses. Feeling like I work harder than everyone just to get by often overwhelms me. Dealing with the constant financial pressures along with school seemed too much to bear.

In the summer of 2009, I found myself on the verge of leaving the God that loves me. I had lost all hope for myself and my family. Alcohol and drugs were running rampant in my family. I also had to deal with the searing pain of not having parents. Left asking how an all powerful God could love me when my own parents weren’t even there, I lost all hope. Feeling rejected by my family and by God, I gave up on everything I once claimed to love. I had nowhere else to turn. I let go of friends and isolated myself. The pain I felt covered my eyes from the love shown in the cross of Jesus. The life I was living didn’t seem worth living any longer.

Though these may be legitimate concerns, they only have the amount of power I give to them. These are situations I have no control over. Although they are tough and some are possibly ones I do not deserve to go through, these are things that do not have to overwhelm me to the point of losing all hope. There are several things that I have found that help me through this despair — like community. Having someone to support you when you’re weak is a tremendous help. But one thing seems to surpass them all: shifting my focus to one central truth.

The Bible tells me that God loved me so much that he sent his only son to die for me. Jesus completely emptied himself for me. The creator of the universe stepped out of glory and out of a perfect love relationship with the father to take on flesh and live a life leading to death.

Philippians 2:7-8 says, “Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of me. And when he had come as a man in his external form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death- even to death on a cross.”

Jesus was beaten and murdered on my behalf. He was beaten to the point of not looking human. He was betrayed by his closest friends, felt the searing pain of separation from his father and was left to die upon the cross. As Jesus endured the beatings and hung on the cross, he had me on his mind.

After several trying times and nearly impossible situations to come out of, I have come to a point in my life where nothing can ever make me think about turning my back on God. At times I may feel like the life has been knocked out of me, but I will always get back up again. I have realized that my identity is not in my family, school, friends or anything else in this world. Who I am in this world lies in Jesus Christ and the cross he bore for me. It is in Christ and his work on the cross that we find our identity, hope and our greatest example of love ever known. Shifting our focus off of life and the problems that come and putting it onto the cross gives us strength to face the pressures of life.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”

Jesus’ grace, the grace displayed on the cross, is all that we will ever need in life. Nothing that happens in life can take away the love that Jesus displayed for us on the cross.