In my journey there have been two songs that have really spoken into my heart: "Blessings" by Laura Story and "Even If" by Kutless.
They've taught me two things:
1. Not all "trials" are hardships, some of them are blessings in disguise. All things have a purpose, even my chronic pain.
2. I can grow closer to God through my suffering by leaning on Him through it. Yes, I pray for healing but more than that, I pray He gives me strength to get through it and wisdom to learn from it.
3. No matter what, God is good. He is faithful.
Romans 5:3-5 says "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love."I have learned in the past year that God is always with us in our trials, whether we sense His presence or not. If we learn to lean on Him and be still, He will battle for us and He will be our strength. And our faith will emerge stronger. But the key thing here is we must trust in Him. If you try to handle the trials and problems on your own, then the endurance, the patience, the learning is stunted.
Has there been situations where you've learned through a trial or a problem? What about when you've stumbled and lost sight of the cross in the midst? How did you get back on track?
I had a period of time during which I grew bitter at God. It really felt like He was letting me deal with things on my own while He dealt with other people's issues. It was Romans 8:28-29 that helped bring me back around:
ReplyDelete"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren."
I had known that God was faithful, but I couldn't feel it, and struggled with that. These verses spoke to me about God's sovereignty, and about the fact that EVERYTHING is under God's control, and that meant that what I am going through is for my good and His glory. He is conforming me to His image, and He always gives me what is best for me.
I, too, love the song "Blessings" by Laura Story, because she points out that our trials are, in fact, blessings in disguise. :) Great post!
Jenari, I love those verses as well and almost included them. It is certainly hard in the midst of trials to remember that God is always present, especially when we don't feel it. I loved how one of my devotions put it one day. It said something along the lines of "Feelings are temporary and ever changing. God is always with you, that's reality."
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