Life has a way of hitting us from all angles. Illness. Loss. Disappointment. Betrayal. Financial struggles. Family drama. The weight of it all can leave us feeling agitated, aggravated, annoyed, and even angry. We look around at the chaos in our personal lives and the atrocities in the world, and we wonder: Where is God in all of this?

Here's the truth we need to hear: God can handle all of our big feelings—even the ugly ones. Especially the ugly ones. The feeling of betrayal. The disappointment of yet another rejection. The failure when you've exhausted every option. The gut-wrenching pain of loss. The worry about loved ones making poor choices. The disgust at injustice. The anxiousness of not knowing how, when, or if God is going to come through.

When you're experiencing any or all of these feelings, the question isn't whether you're mad at God. The question is: What do you do while you're mad?

When Outcomes Don't Make Sense
In Matthew 16:21-25, Jesus drops a bombshell on His disciples. He tells them plainly that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of religious leaders, be killed, and on the third day be raised to life. This wasn't the plan the disciples had in mind. Peter, always quick to speak, pulls Jesus aside and rebukes Him: "Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!"
Jesus's response is swift and sharp: "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

This exchange reveals something profound: suffering doesn't feel good, but it has a purpose. We want suffering to make sense. We want to understand why God allows young children to lose parents, why marriages end, why illness ravages bodies, why violence and injustice seem to win. But here's the uncomfortable truth: it's not always going to make sense to our human minds. If we had all the answers, if we knew everything, we would be just as divine as God.

This doesn't mean God wants us to suffer. But it does mean that if we ride with God through our suffering, at some point we'll see how the most awful time in our life can become a blessing that glorifies God. It doesn't make sense now because you're in it, feeling every ounce of it. But don't let go. Ride with God.

Living Evidence of Redemption
Look around. There's living evidence everywhere of how God restores and uses our suffering:

The former addict who now works as a recovery specialist. The ex-dealer who now restores communities. The formerly incarcerated person making meaningful impact. The survivor of violence who helps others rebuild. The one who lost everything and ended up with even more. The family whose loved one's organs saved multiple lives. The person who survived a suicide attempt and now provides hope to others struggling to find reasons to stay alive.
The brother whose early life was headed toward destruction, now a mighty man of God in leadership. The one who endured toxic relationship after toxic relationship, now a certified relationship coach in a thriving marriage. The little girl raised in poverty, now a retired medical professional with a Ph.D., decades of marriage, and high-achieving children.
Suffering doesn't feel good, but it has a purpose. Don't turn away from God.

Carry the Right Stuff
Jesus makes it clear: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

During Jesus's time, the cross was an instrument of torture and execution. When He tells us to take up our cross, He's instructing us to surrender what we want for what God's will is for us. If we're still carrying all the stuff we want, we don't have the strength or capacity to carry what God wants us to carry.

Think about what you're still carrying that you don't need. What are you holding onto that's not relevant to what God has told you to do? What's slowing you down, stopping you from living your life for Christ?

We convince ourselves we need our stuff—our plans, our control, our way of doing things. We need things to be exactly how we envision them. But when we lighten the load and stop trying to do things our way, when we focus on what we absolutely must have, it all fits in a much smaller package.

The difference is remarkable. Without all that extra weight, we can move quickly to where God has called us to go.

But here's the thing: it's not one and done. We must daily deny ourselves, take up our cross, and give up what we think we want. Every single day, we've got to put the stuff down, take our hands off it, and surrender to God—especially when life is unclear, unfair, or filled with suffering.

Speak Directly to the Thing
When Peter tried to protect Jesus from suffering, he wasn't coming from a bad place. He loved Jesus. He revered Him. He wanted to protect Him. But what Peter wanted wasn't in alignment with what God ordained to happen.

Even when what people want for us isn't necessarily bad, if God hasn't ordained it, we shouldn't let it happen. Disobedience to God is disobedience to God. Jesus told Peter he didn't have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. If you're going to ride with God, you must be more focused, more aligned, more disciplined, and more obedient to God's plan than to humans' plans.

Sometimes Satan will use the people who love us most to have us disobey God. Or sometimes we allow Satan to use us to lead someone we love away from God's will.
What do you need to speak directly to in order to do what God has called you to do? This is too serious to be passive-aggressive, to talk around it, or send subliminals. You've got to deal with that thing head-on with the confidence and power of Jesus Christ.

Get behind me, unhealed trauma. Get behind me, unforgiveness. Get behind me, anxiety and depression. Get behind me, illness. Get behind me, bad finances and poor decisions. Get behind me, toxic relationships and family drama. Get behind me, addiction. Get behind me, Satan.

It's Time to Ride
The phrase "we ride at dawn" comes from military missions dating back to medieval times when soldiers were told to be rested, have all their stuff, and be ready to ride into battle at the break of daylight.

We don't have to wait until dawn. We can ride with Jesus at any time.
Suffering doesn't feel good, but it has a purpose. Carry the right stuff. Get ready. Lace up your boots. Put on your backpack. It's time to ride.

This world isn't acting timid, and we don't have time to be passive Christians. God has already healed. God has already restored. God has already provided protection and prosperity. God has already done it. God is already comforting and providing.

You can let all that stuff go. You can stop carrying the things that are weighing you down. You can stop trying to be so strong on your own. You can stop trying to orchestrate things to be the way you want them. You can stop forcing situations and staying in spaces too small for you.

It won't be easy. It will sometimes hurt. People will get on your nerves. But sometimes people are just being raggedy, and you need to call a thing what it is and say, "Here you go, God. What do you want me to do now?" And then do that.

Salvation is for everybody. Redemption is for everybody. When Jesus went to Jerusalem to suffer, be killed, and resurrected, it wasn't just for the ministers or the people who pray the best. It was for everybody.

So lace up your boots. Put on your backpack. Living surrendered, because this life isn't your own. It's time to ride with Jesus, wherever He goes.