Success Might Fill Your Schedule, But Only God Can Fill Your Soul

Karin Hadadan, best-selling author of Beauty in the Stillness, shares that while material possessions may temporarily satisfy us, nothing fulfills us like our connection with God.

Prior to his crucifixion, Jesus offered this final dose of encouragement to the disciples to carry in their hearts during the events about to unfold.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

The honesty in His words acknowledged that trouble, tribulation, and pain are inevitable in this world—they are part of our human experience, something we cannot escape, uniting us all as one, knowing we all go through it in some capacity. But what He clarifies is that peace is found ‘in Him,’ not in our circumstances. Because even when we finally attain the things we want, we often still feel empty, proving it was never about the job, money, relationship, or success, but about experiencing true peace. The moment we anchor our peace in Him rather than anything outside us, the more we can live in this state, even during moments of challenge.

Jesus also commands us to ‘take heart’ during these troubles, making it an active choice to seek courage and find gratitude for where God has placed us. This invites us to be both realistic and hopeful throughout our human experience—that suffering with hope is the ultimate victory. That is what being at peace truly means.

When we connect our present troubles to Christ’s completed triumph, if He can overcome the world through the resurrection, then we too can overcome whatever we are struggling with—not because our troubles disappear, but because His victory transforms how we experience them.