His Plan, Not Ours: Growing Through Suffering

You ever notice that when we finally get out of whatever it is we are suffering from it never seems to be the way we thought we would get out of it? Like during our suffering we could never understand or see the way out that God has for us. It’s because it’s His plan for us not our plan for us. His plan for us involves us remaining in a situation and standing up under its weight. It means we don’t allow the situation to break us down. That’s what we see in Job. Often it is only suffering and trials that make us better people than we would ever have been otherwise. It is only suffering that pushes us to explore the heights and depths of who God is, and discover and experience Him for ourselves.Just today one of you messaged me and said that through your recent struggles you’ve been led to be closer to God than in the past and that these morning writings are helping. I’m blown away, but it is testimony to what I said above. In our minds we find it easy to think that if we are righteous, things will go well with us from the physical, material, and obviously, the spiritual side. We may not acknowledge it but we do often fall into the mindset of Job’s friends, assuming that only good comes to good.But that isn’t always the case. Suffering brings strength and growth. So that’s what makes it worth it. Not just the fact that it makes us better (which we may or may not even desire, to be honest), but the fact that it blazes out into comfort, encouragement and even salvation to many others around and even beyond us.Be Nice, Grace Wins