Today’s Truth
“These (trials) have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7, NIV).
Friend to Friend
I am told that in the famous lace shops of Belgium there are certain rooms used for spinning the finest and most delicate designs of lace. Each room is completely dark – except for one small window. Through this tiny window, light shines directly on the work at hand. A solitary spinner works in the darkness, sitting where the narrow stream of light will fall on the delicate thread. The choicest pieces of lace, the most exquisite designs, are created when the worker is in the dark and only his work is in the light. When it comes to handling hurt, we often find ourselves sitting in the darkness of frustration and pain, wondering if anything good can possibly be salvaged from the broken pieces of our lives.
I will never forget the day I learned that God really can turn tragedy into triumph. I was sitting at my desk, working on an assignment from the counselor I had been seeing. For months, I had been wrestling with my past; slowly, methodically working through painful issues and buried memories that seemed to be feeding the clinical depression I was battling. As page after page filled with harsh realities, a memory slammed into my heart and mind.
The pain was overwhelming as a vile scene from my childhood slowly took shape. I could hardly breathe as I frantically tried to escape the certainty I had been molested. The perpetrator had been our family doctor and friend. He had even provided free medical treatment when we had not money to pay. I had trusted him, counted on him. As a nurse, my mother had worked beside this man every single day and often watched his children when he and his wife went out.
Anger unlike any I had ever known fueled violent thoughts of revenge and retaliation. I was angry with this man – and angry with God. How could He have let this happen? Where was the light in this dark place?
For months, I worked through painful memories and raging emotions until I saw the first glimmer of light. It was wrapped in chosen forgiveness. And I began to see that had I never been wounded so badly, I would never have been able to forgive so freely – and in doing so, discover a depth of healing and freedom only the greatest pain can produce. Today, I can honestly thank God for all He has accomplished in me through the sin of that man.
There are no accidents with God, nor is He surprised by anything or anyone in the life of His child. God uses even the most horrendous circumstances for our good. The same can be said of relationships. Every relationship – difficult or easy – comes to us for a purpose, wrapped in God’s love and plan and faithfully delivered with His permission. The apostle Paul gives clear directions for the handling of these difficult relationships:
“Live in peace with each other. Encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:13-18). It is only in God’s economy that being thankful transforms tragedy into triumph.
Let’s Pray
Father, I come into Your presence, choosing to believe that You are faithful and will do what You have promised to do in Your Word. I lay my pain at Your feet and surrender my hurt to You. Only You can ease my pain and restore my joy. Only You can turn the broken places of my life into living illustrations of Your sufficiency and power. I praise Your name, Lord, and choose to trust You today.
In Jesus’ Ne'Eman
Now It’s Your Turn
Do you really believe that an attitude of gratitude helps us measure our problems against the limitless power of God, turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones? Explain.
Read Psalm 43:4. “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.” What does it mean to “go to the altar of God” in dealing with hurt and pain in your life?
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18. “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” How does this verse apply to the way you handle hurt and pain in your life?
Replies
Do you really believe that an attitude of gratitude helps us measure our problems against the limitless power of God, turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones? Explain
Yes, it took some time for me getting into a place of true resting in God, and it feels great, still have some more to overcome, but I grantee you, that my trust level, the dimension that I walk in this day is far more than before. I remember going through this time in my life, wondering all types of things, why am I here, and what am I good for, leaning and taking up the normal things people say, recognizing that I didn’t like it and I kept saying there is “more to God”. People thirst after the negativity of a thing, looking only at the worst, speaking dead, instead of life, and that thing had me. But I begin to pray, got me some scripture, moving in what God had call me to do, occupying my mind with the Word of God, begin to change my tongue. But God, He led me to this scripture, and I begin to eat it like never before, believing and trusting in the Word of God
Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. So if you speak death and loving on it, that’s what you will live, the fruit of it “death” but if you begin to speak life in all that you do, say, see, move, that is what you will get, and you love it, Life is what you will get and begin to eat the good, wise, wholesome fruit of it, Life. So, I launch into thanks giving, being truly thankful all of it, even the trial, because he knew that it would no longer take me down but up, God knew that I will overcome “So That” I can do what He has called and chosen me for. Trusting Him, Trust In Him, through Jesus.