Job 23:10-11. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
Tough times, frustrations, trials and struggles in life happen to everyone and are inevitable. Bad things happen to good people and good things may happen to bad people, we face illnesses, financial struggles, divorce, and death because we live in an imperfect world.
God often allows struggles in life to mold us and grow us up. If everything in life were easy and handed to us we wouldn’t grow up much we would remain as children expecting things to always go our way and we would be of no help to anyone else. It is often through our struggles in life that we draw closer to God, we learn to trust Him and we gain a better understanding of the fact that we cannot do it all alone.
Here is something to consider; when you face struggles and disappointments in life how do you handle it? Do you run around desperately trying to figure everything out or do you rest in Him and give Him the opportunity to speak to you and guide you into all that He has planned? Do you hold fast to His steps or are your steps just fast, running you all over the place because you are too terrified to just “Be Still and Know That He Is God”? Don’t allow Satan to get you worked up into a frenzy thinking you must be doing something to ‘fix it’ because after all, ‘what will people think?’. Satan will lie to you and try to get your eyes off God, he will try to get you to turn aside and get off track for what God has planned. Stop for a minute today and ask yourself if you are trusting God or are you frantically trying to do it yourself!
Hold on to these verses in James 5:11, “As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” And then James 5: 13-16, “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Now, remember the endurance part as you pray. We so often think that we should have immediate answers and it doesn’t always work that way. There are times we are called to persevere to bring glory to God when He does bring that answer about. I know it is hard! I am right there with you! I have answers I wish were answered yesterday and I don’t understand the delay, but I do believe that God is faithful and He will come through when the time is right, who knows, maybe it’s today.
God is right by your side, He knows the way that you are taking. He wants to mold you into something beautiful. Trust Him, don’t get off track, don’t go your own way. Know that He is God, Be still and shut out Satan’s lies, don’t give Satan any room to cause problems. Hold on to the path God has put you on and if you have done all that He has told you to do and there’s nothing else to do then take this time to rest in Him and allow Him to speak to your heart about what is next. Don’t get so busy trying to figure it out that you miss it completely! The best is yet to come!
Quote: “Hope never dies where faith is strong, and faith grows strong in the presence of hope.” ~ Chad Witmeyer
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Dear Janet,
Wonderful message–always encouraging and placing the focus on God and all He can do! God bless you and keep you-so thankful for you & your ministry! <3