There’s a question we throw around that I bet means a whole lot more than we would expect. How many times a week—or a day!—are you asked,

“How are you?”

I don’t know about you, but the answer I hear and give most is something like . . . “fine” or “busy but good!” It’s kind of the socially acceptable answer, right?

A friend asked me this question just this week as I walked into work. I was multitasking as usual while knee deep in a cell phone conversation about yet another problem. I didn’t answer her, because if I did—if I really stopped and answered—I might have started crying, right there on the spot. My lips formed the word “fine” when in reality, I was anything but—at least in that moment. And life doesn’t always stop long enough to give a real answer.

But “fine” is the socially acceptable answer because it works . . . or does it?

The reality is, we are all struggling, to different degrees and complexity levels, each and every day. The struggle is real, and when you add up both the little and big daily struggles, it’s easy to understand why this hashtag social media rockstar exists—over 3 million deep at #thestruggleisreal.

But if we dig a little deeper into this common complaint, we might discover a much more sinister root—and real help toward freedom and wisdom in Christ.

In my newest book, The Struggle Is Real, that’s what I’ve done. I address issues like:

• Life is much harder than I thought it would be, and I feel bad saying it.

• There are some things about myself that I can’t change—it’s just how I am, and it frustrates me.

• I really don’t know if God is interested in my life, and even if He is, I don’t know how to hear from Him.

(And if you are wondering how real your struggle is, I’ve included a Good Life Inventory on page 14!)

I wrote this book because I know how real the struggle truly is—and I want us to discover the true source of the answer to these age-old problems. My hope is to take readers through a journey into this gap between our “just fine” lives and the truly good lives we are seeking and are hungry for. To offer hope that we can live the best life we can, this side of heaven.

Yep, the struggle is definitely real. But the struggle can also start the story. It can motivate us to rewrite our lives into a new story. The struggles can lead us to a new source of hope and freedom—and somehow, even the worst of life can become a place of strength and growth. The struggle is real. And the struggle can be good.

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Written by Nicole Unice, author of The Struggle is Real

About The Struggle is Real

“It just shouldn’t be this hard!”
Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a day where everything that could go wrong does go wrong—you lock your keys in the car while it’s running, lose control with your kids, make a mistake at the office that results in hours more work. And just when you think not one more thing could possibly happen . . . well, fill in the blank.

The struggle is real, friends. It may not be major stuff. Lives are not on the line here. But it makes us feel awful . . . and then we feel guilty for stressing when other people have “real” problems that are so much more serious.

Yet the fact remains: We live in a world that often feels harder than we think it should be. And so it can be easy to believe the stories we tell ourselves—that we’re doing it wrong, that we’ll be stuck in this place forever, that God doesn’t love us. We struggle to practice gratitude, to make godly choices, and to live our daily lives with confidence and contentment. So what can we do?

Join popular Bible teacher and counselor Nicole Unice to discover whythe struggle is real . . . and what to do about it. Nicole offers practical tools to help you navigate the daily ups and downs, and ways to rewrite your struggle into a new, God-centered life story. The Struggle Is Real is an invitation to take the hard, hurtful, and confusing moments and turn them into opportunities to grow in wisdom, strength, and joy.

Includes access to free online video streaming for 90 days!

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