Trials

What the Rain Brings

Blog_RainFlowersWe were driving through a downpour when my daughter exclaimed, “I don’t like rain. The police should lock it up and throw it in jail!” All that changed in a matter of minutes after we told her rain brings flowers, which means her birthday is coming soon. After that, she wasn’t complaining, but sighing with contentment at the sight of the deluge.

Sometimes we look so long at the rain, we forget the good it brings. We see how it hinders us from the days’ agenda, how it slows traffic…how it blocks our view of the sun. Our mouths utter complaint after complaint when the weather fails to do our bidding.

It’s interesting to think that for every person praying for sun, there’s a farmer praying for rain. The farmer sees things from a different perspective. He understands that an abundance of rain yields an abundance of crops, just as my daughter came to realize that an abundance of rain yields an abundance of flowers, promising a soon-coming birthday.

What a difference a change in perspective makes! A life without rain is a life without life. Nothing grows without rain. Nothing lives without rain. As much as it may disrupt our plans, much more would be disrupted without it.

When trying circumstances come like rain into our lives, we need a change of perspective. The rain’s not here to devour, it’s here to bring life. If you’re in the midst of a storm, just wait it out…and believe. New life will spring up in due season.

“I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.” (Lev 26:4)

Photo Credit: Freesia in the Rain | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

The Blessing of Unmet Expectations

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We’re blessed when God fails to live up to our expectations yet we continue in faith, knowing his purposes are greater than our own.

 

Source: Hope in the Midst of Suffering

Photo Credit: Desert pictures · Pexels · Free Stock Photos

Expectations

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God is who he chooses to be, not who we make him to be. He does what he wills, not always what we want. When we embrace this truth, he speaks to us in our affliction, and we’re freed from the restrictions of our expectations.

 

Source: Hope in the Midst of Suffering

Photo Credit: File:Meijer Gardens October 2014 24 (Woodland Shade Garden).jpg …

It’s Not in Vain

Blog_FootprintsBeachI love a man named Asaph. Yes, he lived about 3,000 years ago and no, I’ve never met him. He’s one of the lesser-known writers of the psalms. Lesser, I say, because we all know about King David and tend to mistakenly attribute all the psalms to him. But Asaph had a lot to say. And when it comes to those gut-wrenchingly honest psalms, Asaph’s are just about as raw as they get.

Psalm 73 is one of my favorites. Here, Asaph divulges his struggles, zeroing in on a time when his “foot almost slipped.” He’d fallen into the common trap of envy, though in this case he envied the wicked—not because they were wicked, but because they seemed to prosper in all they did.

Why were those whose hearts were bent on evil so graced with problem-free lives? They did whatever they wanted, hurting whoever they wanted along the way, and yet they lived on, “free from common human burdens.”

Oh, how I relate to Asaph. Sometimes, I echo his lament, “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.”

I echo this, but I know in my heart that Asaph moved beyond that lament as must I. His thinking was mired in despair until he “entered the sanctuary of God.” It was there, he understood.

There is an end to evil. Though it seems to rise triumphant, it will not prevail, nor those who revel in it.

An eternal perspective transforms our narrow, earth-bound perspective. It elevates our thinking, to remember, “my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

The things of the earth are fading, falling—a mere chasing after the wind. But it is NEVER in vain to pursue the things of heaven while here on earth. Because there will come a day when we will finally see eternity. And it’s gonna be worth it.

“Life will always seem unfair when we measure it by earthly standards of health, wealth and power. But when we encounter God in a personal, intimate way…we can gain a heavenly perspective. We’ll begin to see the other part of the picture—that the rewards of this life are temporary and, as a matter of fact, can even hinder us from discovering what is truly important.” (Philip Yancey & Tim Stafford)

 

Photo Credit: Free stock photo of sea, beach, footprint www.pexels.com

There’s Beauty in it All

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Just as there’s beauty and purpose in every season, there’s beauty and purpose for everything that comes to our lives, good or bad.

Source: Weathering the Whethers of Life

Photo Credit: The Four Seasons Free Stock Photo – Public Domain Picture

The Hope I Cling To

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In the end, it’s true, “In this world, we will have trouble.” But Jesus also said, “take heart! I have overcome the world.” That’s the hope I cling to.

 

Source: When Storms Roll In

Photo Credit: Cloudy Sky Across The Horizon | Flickr – Photo Sharing!

When Storms Roll In

Blog_ImpendingStormIt was one of THOSE days today. The kind where darkness threatens to descend and overtake any hint of joy. Where I’m tempted to let the blanket of discouragement douse out the flicker of hope.

I’ve been writing a lot about trials lately, but quite honestly it seems I’ve been in the clear for a few months. After a long rollercoaster season of ups and downs, I’ve come to the point where I can see clearly enough to write encouragement from a higher perspective. It’s not that it’s been an easy year, in particular, just a less afflicted year.

Then came some discouraging news, a new wave of challenges brewing on the horizon. I guess I’m not off the hook, after all. Didn’t Jesus say, “in this world, we will have trials”? Yet when they come, we’re tempted to throw those OTHER promises in his face—the lighter, easier ones that don’t deal with suffering. “Why have you forsaken me?” we cry, forgetting it’s not him who’s forsaken us.

Maybe, in the end, it’s us who’ve forsaken his word, looking to it only for the promises of ease and comfort. We accuse God of giving us a stone when we asked for bread, not remembering the word that declares God a loving father who gives his children what they need. It’s a matter of how we see each gift he gives.

When his precious daughter Rachel was killed in the 1999 Columbine massacre, Darrel Scott talked about developing “see through” vision. When it seemed he’d been handed a stone, he was determined to see through his awful tragedy to the good that could come from it. He devoted his life, and his daughter’s memory, to bring blessing in the midst of evil.

I can’t say I’ve yet encountered anything near as tragic as Darrel Scott and his family, but I can say his sentiments about “see through” vision have kept me over the years through the various trials I’ve encountered. I’m learning to take what’s given me and see that God can take even the most hopeless of circumstances and bring forth life.

In the end, it’s true, “In this world, we will have trouble.” But Jesus also said, “take heart! I have overcome the world.” That’s the hope I cling to.

“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10)

 

Photo Credit: Rainy Skies on the Horizon | Flickr – Photo Sharing!