We've all heard that we shouldn't give up on God's grace. And on the surface, we try not to, but Satan (Satan) has a trick up his sleeve. We tend to give up on ourselves and our inability to change things, especially the inner turmoil we feel. And the effect is essentially the same as giving up on God's grace. We don't always accept that God can get us out of the situations we find ourselves in and that we don't have to 'deserve' the problems; God is not punishing us, and we don't have to be perfect.
However, this does not mean that we should not try, or take ourselves seriously when we mess up. The key is to build our relationship with God during the hardship. If we know God, there is no such thing as despair. There is no permanent sadness. We see trials as they should be seen – as tests of our faith in God, forcing us to practice our knowledge and drawing us closer to Him. These trials can also potentially be punishments, if we allow them to negatively affect us by actually turning away from Him because of our sadness. But our awareness of our own situation and our understanding of God’s Mercy allows us to transform the punishment into something positive that is expressed through repentance to God, while increasing our good deeds to cancel out the bad.
The first exercise is to consciously realize that God is All-Knowing. Whatever sorrow we are going through, whatever hardship we are going through, we must understand that we are never alone. Even when we feel abandoned by the world and those closest to us, God is there. He reminds us in the Quran,
"Jangan takut, sesungguhnya Aku bersama kamu berdua, Aku mendengar dan melihat."
