As God has revealed to me the great opportunities that are hidden in the trials of my life, I have begun to see them as a gift. Trials are not an easy gift to receive. I’d rather just be comfortable. But the great and mysterious change God is making in my life is this:
The more I experience trials WITH God in charge, the greater my astonishment and wonder grows at the magnificence of His presence!
There is no gift quite like God’s presence. He is the fountain of all things good. You see, if everything in my life was easy enough—that I could handle it—I would never know how much I need God. And then…
I would be denied the experience of His power.
I would be denied the experience of His wisdom.
I would be cheated out of experiencing the fullness of His love
What? You say, wait! I get the “power” and “wisdom” experience, but trials ALSO help us experience the fullness of His love??? Absolutely! You see, a fair-weather friend gives her love when it’s convenient and it doesn’t cost her too much. You may feel an occasional warm and fuzzy feeling from her kind of friendship. But a friend who not only goes through the toughest times with you, but also takes the brunt of the burden on his own shoulders even though it costs him dearly—that’s the friend you experience the REAL depths of love with.
You have a BOND with him that is resilient.
You have a relationship you can TRUST.
This is exactly what God does for us—He is the “friend that sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24) Jesus not only sticks by us, but He does so much more!
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Matthew 11:28-29
The greater the trials, the greater the opportunity to see how much God bears our burdens in His love for us. Pop culture would have you believe that if God really loved you, bad things wouldn’t happen to you. But, my friend, would you blame a PARENT for their adult SON’s decision to wreck his own life? God has given us free will. From the beginning, we chose to reject His ways and—the entire human race is now paying for the awful destructive fallout from sin. What is God doing about it? He offers us salvation and He offers to bear our burden as we walk through each trial. Even though we have broken His perfect creation He shows us mercy and grace.
When we love God, our trials are viewed as a great opportunity to manifest His glory.
To learn more about Kimberly Faith and the mission of Faith Strong, click HERE.
Out Now – Essential Faith, Volume II. Find it on Amazon by clicking HERE.
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