i believe there are times in life where we know without a doubt that God is talking to us; getting our attention so to speak. more than once last week different messages of hope and joy were placed on my heart and mind. i know without a doubt there was no coincidence in these messages i read and heard last week.
i think we all struggle with wondering why we face difficult times in our lives. i know in the past month i've questioned things myself as i've seen people around me hurting. the suffering of a child with cancer. dear friends with a marriage falling apart. my own sweet daughter who questions daily why we had to move and leave her best friend states away. so many people have things they are facing...financial hardships, loneliness, depression, anxiety. you don't have to look far to see trials. i know in my own life i have battled letting my worries and fears consume me. but these passages give a renewed hope to all of us as believers and i think sometimes we need to have this reminder.
one of the passages is James 1:2-4. it says, " consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
wow! if we could all remember this daily as we encounter things. to know that God is truly working on us during these times....what a blessing it would be to us.
at another point during the week i was reading a daily devotion that I get in my inbox and the following passage was quoted from Jeremiah 29: 11 : "For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’" i love this passage.
later in the week, I was in my car and listening to Christian radio. a lady was speaking and she was saying how sometimes in her own prayer time she asks God that why we must go through these trials of life when He already knows who will be saved and what will become of our lives. she said that the answer became very clear to her on a recent mission trip through the own trials of that week. we have to go through all the parts of our life...to get us to where God wants us. without life and without these moments, we would not fully be the person God has planned for us to become.
today, i share these messages in hopes that if you are facing any kind of trial in your own life that you will take comfort in knowing that God does have a plan for you. let Him work in you and take faith; even in these hard times, His love is shining on you.
i see this picture of my daughter and it reminds me of all of this.
