Every Sunday my church shares at one of the local rehab facilities. This week, it was my turn to bring a message. The scripture that God gave me came from the Book of James, and I just want to share with you what God shared with me. The funny thing is, what I am going to share with you is not the message God gave me to share at the rehab center. It is something another minister said to me afterward that gave me pause. This is the Message version of James 1:2-4, and it says “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
The part I want to highlight is the line that says, "So don't try to get out of anything prematurely." That thing resonated in my spirit because we so often try to hurry past those times when things don't go our way. I mean, if there is any way we can get out of having to endure pain, or hurt, or trauma, why wouldn't we, right? The thing is, when we do that we never really get the lesson God may be trying to show us.
God will never allow anything that He is not going to work out for our good. When our parents, our family, or our friends try to "cushion" our fall, what they are really doing is stunting our growth. As Joyce Meyer says, "Sometimes you have to go through to get through."
Know that when you are a follower of Christ, you are going to go through some "stuff" every now and then. All of our situations, burdens, and problems...whatever that thing is for you...know that God is aware, and He knows exactly what He is doing. Trust Him
Until next time...
Be blessed
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