Thank God for His Word! We don't know when something will come along and try to sideswipe us.  But if we are in a relationship with God, He will be able to give us a specific word for that situation that's trying to discourage us. I'm learning how valuable this is--to have God's view on the matter. (That's the only View that matters after all.) One awesome thing about living this way is that God knows the end from the beginning. Just yesterday something tried to sideswipe me, but I already had a Word from God on the matter. So I read it again yesterday to encourage me, and you know what happened?! It was a passage of scripture with about 10 verses in it; and in the past when I read it there was one of the verses that always confused me concerning the situation. As I'm reading the passage yesterday, that verse just POPPED off the page and made total sense concerning the very spot I'm in right now. It was the EXACT word that I needed at that EXACT moment!!! And God knew that in advance, and prepared my steps ahead of time. I'm so glad that my steps are ordered by Him. He definitely knows what way is best. So this thing that was intended to attack my joy was counterattacked by God, and I didn't even skip a beat. Praise God!! He's so good. : )