Thank you for my suffering!

WhAt?! 
 
When is the last time YOU felt like praising God in the midst of a trial? "Thank you, God, for allowing me to experience this current trial or hardship.  This pain and suffering is going to make me such a better person!  You must have something great planned!"  Hmmm....not so much?

This message is nothing like the messages of the world.  The world would have us go buy something to bandage the pain, to comfort the bruises of our flesh.  The world would say that there's a pill, a doctor, a book, or a bigger house (...or atleast a great pair of shoes) to ease the pain.  The world, and even our own selfish, prideful nature, would have us do our best to bandaid the hurt or frustration we experience as we go through trials. 

Satan's message is even more self-destructive.  He says, "You don't deserve this!  You are a good person!!  If God really cared about you, He wouldn't let you experience this!  It's not fair.  No one can be trusted.  Not even God, if He even exists at all.  So from now on, you should probably just crawl into a pit of self-loathing and self-protection.  Keep people far away so you can't get hurt!  This terrible experience defines you now. You deserve to waste as many years of your life, as many hours of your days, fully focused on your own pain.  Feed that bitterness with self pity until it becomes you."  The result is a bitter, hardened heart unable and incapable of loving or receiving love.  A heart that has tuned out the voice of the Savior with the rage of their own voice.

But God has something different in mind for you completely.  Holiness.  A bigger faith.  Perseverance through trials.  Integrity.  Peace.  Greater joy.  Humility.  Compassion.  A softened heart.  Victory.  Purpose. 
Oswald Chambers said, " The lives that are getting stronger are the lives in the desert, deep-rooted in God." 


Much of our "happiness" or contentment with life relies solely upon our perspective of the "storms."  One person sees the storm brewing from afar and gets excited!  Now, none of us may ever get to that point.  But regardless, the storm is a declaration of the greatness of God.  The pounding thunder and the flashing lightening all can remind us of His awesome power.  His ability to maintain control of the violent weather and still bring a sweet fragrance of the dew following it, and maybe even a rainbow!  Others hear the thunder and shudder at the fear of what might be coming.  "What if...?!"

We don't experience one single thunder storm that God doesn't know about.  He goes behind and before you, always offering unconditional love and comfort. And thank goodness, our feelings are not a good gauge of the facts.  His love remains whether we feel it or not!

In my life, I've found this to be completely true.  Each heartache I experience has become an opportunity for God to answer me with a resounding, "I LOVE YOU and I WILL CARRY YOU."  And when I approach the hardships with a complete trust that I serve a sovereign God who knows better than me, I always am able to see His hand working through it.  He doesn't desire heartache and pain for us.  But He does intend to make us more like Him, and sometimes that's a painful process. 

Next time you encounter a storm check your heart.  Are you angry first, or prayerful first?  Do you ask, "Why me?"  or  "God, please help keep me humble enough to hear your voice through this." 


Aim for this to be the condition of your heart through trials:
 "Lord, I don't get it. But I've learned that I don't have to.  You see the big picture...you look at my life from an aerial view while I'm on the ground staring at what's right in front of me.  Help me to see that you intend you USE this for my good, or for YOUR good- for someone else's benefit even.  Help me to trust in you so completely, that my fear is silenced at the sound of the rolling thunder..because even that sounds reminds me you are there." 


Romans 5: 3-5 says, "Not only so, but we^c also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. "


Romans 8:35, 37-39  says, 35 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. "