June 2, 2025 • 17 mins
Listen to today's episode to gain three strategies I've been using for the past several years to navigate the challenges of life while remaining optimistic and strong in my relationship with God.
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Video version of this devotional: https://youtu.be/wsPFLmR-0nY
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 00 (00:00):
Hello, hello.
Welcome to the Dona WatsonShow.
I'm your host, Dona Watson.
Hello, everybody.
Today, I'm going to teach youthree strategies to help you
face hardship and remain full ofhope, able to tackle life with
(00:23):
intention and a deep faith.
Now I've used these strategiesfor the past several years to
navigate challenges of lifewhile remaining optimistic and
strong in my faith with God.
And I'm really excited to beable to bring this to you
because it's my goal that by theend of this video, you will
(00:46):
have renewed strength andrecommitment and a stronger
faith in God.
I want you to strengthen yourfaith too.
Because, you know, life is hardand everybody seems to want to
take the easy road these days,but many are never able to keep
(01:07):
a positive mindset becausethey're not willing to do the
work that's necessary in orderto live with intention.
We have to set our minds aheadof time to be intentional that
we are going to trust God nomatter what happens.
To have a fully fulfillinglife, you need to do the work.
(01:34):
Think of Michael Jordan and KobeBryant.
They were not born to be goodbasketball players.
They did the work.
They had intent.
They had a goal.
And they did the reps.
They practiced.
And that's what we need to do,even in our Christian walk, to
have the intent and the goalsand to practice so that we
(01:56):
become strong in our faith.
It doesn't happen by accident.
So that's why I'm really gladthat you've landed on my
channel.
By the time you get to the endof this, you will have a new
life, faith, or reinforced toolsthat will help you to stand
(02:18):
strong, to stay positive, and tostrengthen your relationship
with God.
Because when you live withintention, you will shine like
the diamond that you are.
So we're going to start ourstory in the Bible, from 2
(02:39):
Samuel, there's this dude with areally weird name.
His name was Mephibosheth.
I'm going to try to get throughthis episode without stumbling
on his name.
So in 1 Samuel, we see thatKing Saul and his sons were
(03:00):
slain in a battle against thePhilistines.
And when they were slain, thatpaved the road for David to
become king of all Israel.
And when he came into his fullpower and things started to
settle down, he started to lookaround for anyone who might be
(03:22):
surviving from King Saul'shousehold.
And he was a good friend ofSaul's son, Jonathan.
And so he wanted to find anyremaining relatives for
Jonathan's sake to show kindnessto them.
So he asks his servants, andthey said, well, there is a
(03:44):
family servant from Saul'shousehold.
His name is Ziba.
He says, bring him.
Let's ask him.
So they brought Ziba in, andthey asked him, are there any
remaining relatives?
And he says, well, yes.
Jonathan had a son.
He's lame in both feet, andhe's living in another city in
someone's house.
(04:04):
He's still alive.
His name is Mephibosheth.
So David summons Mephiboshethto come to Jerusalem and appear
before him.
Now, can you only imagine whatmust have been going through
Mephibosheth's mind.
His entire family had beenslain.
(04:28):
The kingship went to anotherfamily, and he was probably
hiding out, is my guess.
The Bible doesn't say that.
He was in another man's house.
And he comes and he falls facedown to pay homage to David.
(04:49):
He was probably scared todeath.
He was in a really toughposition.
He lived in a harsh world.
And when most new kings came topower in that world...
they would automaticallyexecute anyone from the previous
family, the previous royalfamily, or whoever had been in
(05:13):
power, so that there would be nomore threats to their throne.
So Mephibosheth, he had afamily, the Bible says, he had a
family to care for.
He was lame in both feet,probably difficult to make
income, living in a borrowedhouse under someone else's roof.
Once he had been royalty, butnow he was an outcast and
(05:37):
probably hiding, probably afraidfor his life.
And when David summoned him, Ican only imagine that
Mephibosheth thought, here itcomes.
My worst fears are beingrealized.
Here it comes.
But he had no choice.
So he comes to Jerusalem.
(05:59):
He throws himself down in frontof David.
Let's read 2 Samuel 9, verses 7and
8. "Don't be afraid," David said to him, "since I intend to show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all your grandfather Saul's fields, and you will always eat meals at my table. Mephibosheth paid homage and said, "What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me?"What does David say?
Don't be afraid, David said tohim, since I intend to show you
(06:21):
kindness for the sake of yourfather, Jonathan.
I will restore to you all yourgrandfather Saul's fields, and
you will always eat meals at mytable.
Mephibosheth paid homage andsaid, what is your servant that
you take an interest in a deaddog like me?
(06:42):
Mephibosheth didn't have a veryhigh opinion of himself, did
he?
But he didn't have anything tofear.
David said, don't be afraid.
I'm not going to kill you.
And then he gives toMephibosheth everything that had
belonged to Saul.
He gave him the farm.
(07:03):
He gave him the servants totake care of the farm, which
would have given him the abilityfor income.
Ziba had 15 sons and 20servants that worked for him.
And David assigned all of thoseto work the land for
Mephibosheth so that he wouldhave income.
(07:24):
But not only that, David alsotold him, but you get to stay in
Jerusalem and you're going toeat at my table and like one of
my sons.
He honored him for Jonathan'ssake and had him stay in
Jerusalem.
He gave him property, he gavehim income, and he gave him a
(07:45):
seat at the king's table.
He would always be providedfor.
And when I read this story, itwas like a little microcosm of
how quickly things can change inour lives unexpectedly, you
know?
We face a lot of hardship inour lives.
The test is how are we going todeal with that hardship?
(08:11):
So there are three things that Iwant you to remember when
facing hardship.
And the first one is thatdifficulties happen.
Life is hard.
This is true, but it will pass.
Life is like seasons.
The ebb and flow of life keepsus on our toes, but things
(08:34):
happen.
It throws things our way thatwe don't expect.
Mephibosheth knew the truth ofthis statement.
He didn't do anything that puthim in this terrible position of
being an outcast and hiding forhis life.
But God saw him and God smiledon him and he said, you're going
(08:55):
to be okay.
But he didn't know that yet.
He didn't know that yet.
Life is really chaotic for allof us these days.
There are a lot of things thatwe don't know.
But life is like a season.
It ebbs and it flows.
And this too shall pass.
Hard times don't last forever.
(09:16):
That's the first thing we needto remember.
The second thing that we need toremember is that God always
provides for his children.
God can turn things around inan instant.
Well, at least it seems like aninstant to us.
But the truth of the matter is,God is always working on our
(09:39):
behalf behind the scenes.
He's working on deals andprovisions and things that we
don't know anything about.
We may never know anythingabout, but he's always working
out for our good.
Romans 8.28says, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
(09:59):
That's the truth of the matter.
What might look like achallenge to us now, God can
turn around for our good.
(10:20):
That's what it says.
And the scripture says inseveral places, "Don't worry."
That's because God's got yourback.
You are on his radar.
He sees you.
He knows what you're goingthrough.
And nothing happens to us thatsurprises him.
(10:43):
When my property flooded, Godsent me a scripture saying, in
Psalms, that says he isenthroned over the flood.
And that was like a little lovenote where I knew God saw me
and I knew that he was incontrol and he would help me
(11:04):
deal with whatever cameafterwards.
Rough things happen.
Life is hard, but God is alwaysworking on our behalf.
Now, the third thing that I wantyou to remember is that our job
is to keep hope alive.
(11:25):
That's it.
Keep hoping, keep working, keepgrowing, keep developing and
believing.
In John 15, Jesus talks abouthow he is the true vine, the
Father is the gardener, and weare the branches.
(11:45):
Every branch that does notproduce good fruit, it gets
trimmed off.
He trims out our dead wood sothat we can produce more fruit.
I know that with my roses, ifI've got a branch that's dying,
I need to cut that off or it'sgoing to kill the whole plant.
(12:09):
It's the same thing with fruittrees.
The dead wood at the needs tobe trimmed off so that it can
produce more fruit in a newseason.
And that's what God does forus.
And that pruning process is notalways fun.
It can be painful.
(12:30):
It can seem like a trial.
But it's making us stronger inthe long run.
John 15, verses 16 to 17 says,"You did not choose me." This is
Jesus talking.
"You did not choose me, but Ichose you and appointed you that
(12:54):
you should go and bear fruitand that your fruit should
remain, that whatever you askthe Father in my name, he may
give you.
These things I command you,that you love one another."
See, our job, our assignment isto produce fruit for the kingdom
(13:16):
and to love each other.
Our job is to keep that hopealive, to know that the hardship
is not going to last, thatGod's working on our behalf and
everything's going to work outokay.
Proverbs 16.3 says, "Commit youractivities to the Lord and your
plans will be established." Andthat's what we do.
(13:41):
When we put our faith in theLord's provision for us and we
commit our plans to him, wecommit our activities to him, he
establishes our plans.
He takes care of us.
He brings us what we needbecause he is a loving Father.
(14:05):
So to recap, three things thatwe can look for in any
unexpected hardship.
The first one is thatdifficulties happen.
This season will pass.
Be patient.
Stick with it.
It's not going to last forever.
The second thing is that Godalways provides for his
(14:28):
children.
Never forget that.
He's always working behind thescenes on your behalf and on my
behalf, and he's going to takecare of us.
Everything's going to work outokay.
And that leads us to the thirdpoint.
Our job is to keep hope alive,keep trusting in God, and that's
(14:48):
how we build our faith.
We trust that he's going towork everything out okay.
Keep growing, keep helpingothers, and keep loving others.
That's our assignment.
That's how we bring God'skingdom to earth.
And that's how we strengthenour relationship with God by
trusting in him and having faiththat he's going to take care of
(15:11):
everything.
Life might be chaotic, but it'sgoing to be okay.
If you liked this video, I haveanother one that I'm going to
share with you on screen and Idid a study sometime back on the
book of Esther and there's avideo I want to share with you
(15:33):
that's entitled Finding Couragein Chaos.
If you need more, go there andI hope that you enjoy that
video.
I think it'll strengthen you aswell.
And if this blessed you, there'sone more resource that I want
to share with you.
I wrote a book, Be the WarriorQueen: Practical Christian
(15:55):
Strategies for Women to AchieveVictory in a Chaotic World.
And I wrote that because Icould see how women needed
something to hold on to becauseeverything that's been thrown at
us lately has just beenabsolutely crazy to help us be
strong in our families and ourfaith.
(16:16):
And in these special times, Ihave put together a book special
Warrior Queen book bundle.
I'll put the link down in theshow notes.
So I want you to go down thereand find it so that you can take
advantage of this resource thatI want to make available to
you.
It's a special book bundle.
It has the book.
(16:38):
It has a workbook that I puttogether to help you internalize
the content and really get itinto your heart.
It also has an audiobookversion that comes in the
bundle.
And there are some otherbonuses in there as well, like
my Book of Prayers (16:57):
31 Scripture-Based Prayers for
Spiritual Warfare, and a coupleof other things.
So go find the link, check itout, get this resource.
I want you to be strong.
I want you to strengthen yourfaith in the Lord.
And until next time, take care.
(17:19):
Love you.
For more information on my booksand other projects, visit my website at donawatson.com or my Substack at donawatson.substack.com
Hello, hello.
Welcome to the Dona WatsonShow.
I'm your host, Dona Watson.
Hello, everybody.
Today, I'm going to teach youthree strategies to help you
face hardship and remain full ofhope, able to tackle life with
(00:23):
intention and a deep faith.
Now I've used these strategiesfor the past several years to
navigate challenges of lifewhile remaining optimistic and
strong in my faith with God.
And I'm really excited to beable to bring this to you
because it's my goal that by theend of this video, you will
(00:46):
have renewed strength andrecommitment and a stronger
faith in God.
I want you to strengthen yourfaith too.
Because, you know, life is hardand everybody seems to want to
take the easy road these days,but many are never able to keep
(01:07):
a positive mindset becausethey're not willing to do the
work that's necessary in orderto live with intention.
We have to set our minds aheadof time to be intentional that
we are going to trust God nomatter what happens.
To have a fully fulfillinglife, you need to do the work.
(01:34):
Think of Michael Jordan and KobeBryant.
They were not born to be goodbasketball players.
They did the work.
They had intent.
They had a goal.
And they did the reps.
They practiced.
And that's what we need to do,even in our Christian walk, to
have the intent and the goalsand to practice so that we
(01:56):
become strong in our faith.
It doesn't happen by accident.
So that's why I'm really gladthat you've landed on my
channel.
By the time you get to the endof this, you will have a new
life, faith, or reinforced toolsthat will help you to stand
(02:18):
strong, to stay positive, and tostrengthen your relationship
with God.
Because when you live withintention, you will shine like
the diamond that you are.
So we're going to start ourstory in the Bible, from 2
(02:39):
Samuel, there's this dude with areally weird name.
His name was Mephibosheth.
I'm going to try to get throughthis episode without stumbling
on his name.
So in 1 Samuel, we see thatKing Saul and his sons were
(03:00):
slain in a battle against thePhilistines.
And when they were slain, thatpaved the road for David to
become king of all Israel.
And when he came into his fullpower and things started to
settle down, he started to lookaround for anyone who might be
(03:22):
surviving from King Saul'shousehold.
And he was a good friend ofSaul's son, Jonathan.
And so he wanted to find anyremaining relatives for
Jonathan's sake to show kindnessto them.
So he asks his servants, andthey said, well, there is a
(03:44):
family servant from Saul'shousehold.
His name is Ziba.
He says, bring him.
Let's ask him.
So they brought Ziba in, andthey asked him, are there any
remaining relatives?
And he says, well, yes.
Jonathan had a son.
He's lame in both feet, andhe's living in another city in
someone's house.
(04:04):
He's still alive.
His name is Mephibosheth.
So David summons Mephiboshethto come to Jerusalem and appear
before him.
Now, can you only imagine whatmust have been going through
Mephibosheth's mind.
His entire family had beenslain.
(04:28):
The kingship went to anotherfamily, and he was probably
hiding out, is my guess.
The Bible doesn't say that.
He was in another man's house.
And he comes and he falls facedown to pay homage to David.
(04:49):
He was probably scared todeath.
He was in a really toughposition.
He lived in a harsh world.
And when most new kings came topower in that world...
they would automaticallyexecute anyone from the previous
family, the previous royalfamily, or whoever had been in
(05:13):
power, so that there would be nomore threats to their throne.
So Mephibosheth, he had afamily, the Bible says, he had a
family to care for.
He was lame in both feet,probably difficult to make
income, living in a borrowedhouse under someone else's roof.
Once he had been royalty, butnow he was an outcast and
(05:37):
probably hiding, probably afraidfor his life.
And when David summoned him, Ican only imagine that
Mephibosheth thought, here itcomes.
My worst fears are beingrealized.
Here it comes.
But he had no choice.
So he comes to Jerusalem.
(05:59):
He throws himself down in frontof David.
Let's read 2 Samuel 9, verses 7and
8. "Don't be afraid," David said to him, "since I intend to show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all your grandfather Saul's fields, and you will always eat meals at my table. Mephibosheth paid homage and said, "What is your servant that you take an interest in a dead dog like me?"What does David say?
Don't be afraid, David said tohim, since I intend to show you
(06:21):
kindness for the sake of yourfather, Jonathan.
I will restore to you all yourgrandfather Saul's fields, and
you will always eat meals at mytable.
Mephibosheth paid homage andsaid, what is your servant that
you take an interest in a deaddog like me?
(06:42):
Mephibosheth didn't have a veryhigh opinion of himself, did
he?
But he didn't have anything tofear.
David said, don't be afraid.
I'm not going to kill you.
And then he gives toMephibosheth everything that had
belonged to Saul.
He gave him the farm.
(07:03):
He gave him the servants totake care of the farm, which
would have given him the abilityfor income.
Ziba had 15 sons and 20servants that worked for him.
And David assigned all of thoseto work the land for
Mephibosheth so that he wouldhave income.
(07:24):
But not only that, David alsotold him, but you get to stay in
Jerusalem and you're going toeat at my table and like one of
my sons.
He honored him for Jonathan'ssake and had him stay in
Jerusalem.
He gave him property, he gavehim income, and he gave him a
(07:45):
seat at the king's table.
He would always be providedfor.
And when I read this story, itwas like a little microcosm of
how quickly things can change inour lives unexpectedly, you
know?
We face a lot of hardship inour lives.
The test is how are we going todeal with that hardship?
(08:11):
So there are three things that Iwant you to remember when
facing hardship.
And the first one is thatdifficulties happen.
Life is hard.
This is true, but it will pass.
Life is like seasons.
The ebb and flow of life keepsus on our toes, but things
(08:34):
happen.
It throws things our way thatwe don't expect.
Mephibosheth knew the truth ofthis statement.
He didn't do anything that puthim in this terrible position of
being an outcast and hiding forhis life.
But God saw him and God smiledon him and he said, you're going
(08:55):
to be okay.
But he didn't know that yet.
He didn't know that yet.
Life is really chaotic for allof us these days.
There are a lot of things thatwe don't know.
But life is like a season.
It ebbs and it flows.
And this too shall pass.
Hard times don't last forever.
(09:16):
That's the first thing we needto remember.
The second thing that we need toremember is that God always
provides for his children.
God can turn things around inan instant.
Well, at least it seems like aninstant to us.
But the truth of the matter is,God is always working on our
(09:39):
behalf behind the scenes.
He's working on deals andprovisions and things that we
don't know anything about.
We may never know anythingabout, but he's always working
out for our good.
Romans 8.28says, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
(09:59):
That's the truth of the matter.
What might look like achallenge to us now, God can
turn around for our good.
(10:20):
That's what it says.
And the scripture says inseveral places, "Don't worry."
That's because God's got yourback.
You are on his radar.
He sees you.
He knows what you're goingthrough.
And nothing happens to us thatsurprises him.
(10:43):
When my property flooded, Godsent me a scripture saying, in
Psalms, that says he isenthroned over the flood.
And that was like a little lovenote where I knew God saw me
and I knew that he was incontrol and he would help me
(11:04):
deal with whatever cameafterwards.
Rough things happen.
Life is hard, but God is alwaysworking on our behalf.
Now, the third thing that I wantyou to remember is that our job
is to keep hope alive.
(11:25):
That's it.
Keep hoping, keep working, keepgrowing, keep developing and
believing.
In John 15, Jesus talks abouthow he is the true vine, the
Father is the gardener, and weare the branches.
(11:45):
Every branch that does notproduce good fruit, it gets
trimmed off.
He trims out our dead wood sothat we can produce more fruit.
I know that with my roses, ifI've got a branch that's dying,
I need to cut that off or it'sgoing to kill the whole plant.
(12:09):
It's the same thing with fruittrees.
The dead wood at the needs tobe trimmed off so that it can
produce more fruit in a newseason.
And that's what God does forus.
And that pruning process is notalways fun.
It can be painful.
(12:30):
It can seem like a trial.
But it's making us stronger inthe long run.
John 15, verses 16 to 17 says,"You did not choose me." This is
Jesus talking.
"You did not choose me, but Ichose you and appointed you that
(12:54):
you should go and bear fruitand that your fruit should
remain, that whatever you askthe Father in my name, he may
give you.
These things I command you,that you love one another."
See, our job, our assignment isto produce fruit for the kingdom
(13:16):
and to love each other.
Our job is to keep that hopealive, to know that the hardship
is not going to last, thatGod's working on our behalf and
everything's going to work outokay.
Proverbs 16.3 says, "Commit youractivities to the Lord and your
plans will be established." Andthat's what we do.
(13:41):
When we put our faith in theLord's provision for us and we
commit our plans to him, wecommit our activities to him, he
establishes our plans.
He takes care of us.
He brings us what we needbecause he is a loving Father.
(14:05):
So to recap, three things thatwe can look for in any
unexpected hardship.
The first one is thatdifficulties happen.
This season will pass.
Be patient.
Stick with it.
It's not going to last forever.
The second thing is that Godalways provides for his
(14:28):
children.
Never forget that.
He's always working behind thescenes on your behalf and on my
behalf, and he's going to takecare of us.
Everything's going to work outokay.
And that leads us to the thirdpoint.
Our job is to keep hope alive,keep trusting in God, and that's
(14:48):
how we build our faith.
We trust that he's going towork everything out okay.
Keep growing, keep helpingothers, and keep loving others.
That's our assignment.
That's how we bring God'skingdom to earth.
And that's how we strengthenour relationship with God by
trusting in him and having faiththat he's going to take care of
(15:11):
everything.
Life might be chaotic, but it'sgoing to be okay.
If you liked this video, I haveanother one that I'm going to
share with you on screen and Idid a study sometime back on the
book of Esther and there's avideo I want to share with you
(15:33):
that's entitled Finding Couragein Chaos.
If you need more, go there andI hope that you enjoy that
video.
I think it'll strengthen you aswell.
And if this blessed you, there'sone more resource that I want
to share with you.
I wrote a book, Be the WarriorQueen: Practical Christian
(15:55):
Strategies for Women to AchieveVictory in a Chaotic World.
And I wrote that because Icould see how women needed
something to hold on to becauseeverything that's been thrown at
us lately has just beenabsolutely crazy to help us be
strong in our families and ourfaith.
(16:16):
And in these special times, Ihave put together a book special
Warrior Queen book bundle.
I'll put the link down in theshow notes.
So I want you to go down thereand find it so that you can take
advantage of this resource thatI want to make available to
you.
It's a special book bundle.
It has the book.
(16:38):
It has a workbook that I puttogether to help you internalize
the content and really get itinto your heart.
It also has an audiobookversion that comes in the
bundle.
And there are some otherbonuses in there as well, like
my Book of Prayers (16:57):
31 Scripture-Based Prayers for
Spiritual Warfare, and a coupleof other things.
So go find the link, check itout, get this resource.
I want you to be strong.
I want you to strengthen yourfaith in the Lord.
And until next time, take care.
(17:19):
Love you.
For more information on my booksand other projects, visit my website at donawatson.com or my Substack at donawatson.substack.com
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