God can bring you through situations you think you won't survive, or feel you'll be stuck in forever. He can make you comfortable in the most uncomfortable places, and give you peace in the midst of trauma. Before your life is over you'll live, love, and experience loss.

Losing some things will actually help you to appreciate the things you still have. It's the taste of failure that makes success sweet. You'll live each day not knowing what tomorrow holds, but confident that God has your tomorrows all planned out. They're not in the hands of your boss or your banker or your mate or anybody else. Nor are they in your own hands to manipulate and control. No, all your tomorrows are in God's hands. Just because you don't recognise the path you're on doesn't mean that God's not leading you.

He promises, "...I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them" (Isa 42:16 NKJV).

So get to know God - you'll need Him. And He'll be there for you. He'll be there when everybody and everything else has failed you. He'll be there for you in the dark places. "...Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (Ps 30:5 NKJV).

However long the night, morning always comes, and with it His joy. As you look back you'll realise that His grace protected you, provided for you, secured you, calmed you, comforted you and brought you through

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Times and seasons change, but not God. He's always "the God of all comfort."

Daniel was a victim of circumstances far beyond his control. King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered his homeland and carried him off into exile in Babylon. He lost his freedom, his home, his culture, his friendships and his status as one of Israel's nobility. He had to learn to speak a foreign language and live in a place he never wanted to be.

If you'd been Daniel, wouldn't you have been tempted to focus on the things you couldn't control, like complaining what a bad leader Nebuchadnezzar was, blaming exile for your unhappiness and feeling sorry for yourself? Not Daniel! He "determined that he would not defile himself by eating the king's food..." (Dan 1:8). He spent time thinking about what he most deeply valued and decided to honour God and live by his convictions; even in small things.

 
Small battles train us to win big ones. If Daniel hadn't taken action early on, he wouldn't have had the strength to say 'no' to idol worship and face the lion's den without fear or compromise.

Maybe you can't do anything right now about the house you live in or the job you work at, but you can change your life by taking action in small things.

Maybe like Daniel it will involve what you eat, what you feed your mind, or what comes out of your mouth.

You can refuse to allow your boss or your spouse the power to dictate what kind of mood you'll be in based on how they treat you.

Like Daniel, you can choose. When you "purpose in your heart" to honour God, He blesses you and becomes involved in your life in ways you never thought possible.

Strife is defined as 'conflict...struggle...rivalry,' and God's Word says to avoid it at all cost: "Let nothing be done through strife...but in lowliness of mind let each esteem [the] other better than themselves." Strife is custom-designed to play havoc in marriages, churches, businesses and relationships. It stems from our self-centred ego and leads to comparing, competing and condemning.

The Word of God says: "Where envying and strife is, there is...every evil work" (Jam 3:16).

Keeping strife out of your life means recognising and uprooting it before it grows; "See...no root of bitterness springing up, causes trouble, and...many be defiled" (Heb 12:15 NAS). And Paul adds, "...Complete my joy by living in harmony...being of the same mind...having the same love..." (Philip 2:2 AMP).

Enjoying God's blessings requires doing all we can to live in harmony with one another. Is that easy to do? No, but the sooner you learn it, the better things will be.

When David saw Goliath he didn't stop to consider the odds or listen to the opinions of others. Instead, he "...ran quickly toward the battle...to meet him" (1 Sam 17:48 NIV). Rapid response is required here. When God prompts you to turn the other cheek or take the short end of the stick, draw on His grace and do it. In fact, when you do it on your timetable you end up doing it in your own strength.
So:

(a) forgive those who hurt you or some one you love;

(b) pray for them;

(c) bless them by speaking well of them and wanting only good things for them.

Your commitment to walk each day in love and forgiveness (yes, it's a daily commitment!) will open the door to God's blessing in your life.