In talking with my mentor Jacob recently, the topic of trials in life came up. We may have a picture of the way we wish our lives to go, and we may have even put considerable work into making something happen for ourselves, but God has his way of interrupting our seemingly perfect and comfortable lives. In the pursuit of good for our lives, we may even have what we deem as sincere intentions and think we are doing whatever it is to bring God glory. But, God is the one who sees the heart. Oftentimes, when we least expect it in life, we suddenly hit hardship. The job offer may not come through, you may experience an injury while at the top of your game, a relationship may end (the list goes on and on). God does not introduce or allow difficult circumstances for the fun of it or because He likes toying with us, but He may allow things to happen in our lives because He sees something in us or in the course of our life that He wants changed. Regardless of how we feel in the time of sorrow or difficulty, we can trust that God is for us, and His intentions are always for our good. While we may not like what God is doing or where our lives seem to be headed, God is good all of the time. This has been something I have experienced first hand before and I can testify to the fact that even when we may have given up on ourselves and there seems to be no way that God can (or will) make good from pain, God's grace is greater than our frustration and doubt.
Welcome to the Mentor Blog for BEC342! This is where you get to post about your interactions with your mentor and comment on everyone else's. Make sure you sign in so that you can post and comment!
My mentor and I have actually talked about this several times. It is so important to be able to recognize the good that comes out of the pain we face. For me, it's been hard to find the specific good in many of the painful situations I've gone through, but in everything God has taught me about his goodness. He always proves himself faithful and true.
ReplyDeleteMakes me think of James chapter one. "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." James 1:2-6 God is there for us and wants us to go through trials in order to be made more perfect in him. What an encouraging method when in times of trials.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, its encouraging and good to know that God is always there for us and that he has a plan for our life through bad times.
ReplyDelete