Take a look!
“God knows what He is doing. God knows what you are facing in your life. It is very possible that a trial or temptation has come to you to prepare you for something in your future that you could not withstand had you not gone through a lesser trial and saw Him at work on your behalf.”
Throughout my life, I have had some difficult times, some things that have really challenged me emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. During those hard times I would have my struggles with seeing what good could come out of all the hardships and heartaches. I often was not able to look beyond what I was going through and I spent more time asking God to just take all the hard things away instead of asking Him to help me through them and teach me along the way the lessons I needed to learn.
Today's devotional also talked about Joseph. When Joseph's brothers came to but food from the land of Egypt, he could have easily been bitter and angry at them because they had sold him to the Ishmaelites many years before. But instead, Joseph realized that through all the hard times the Lord was with him and the Lord blessed Joseph. God used what looked to be meant solely for an evil purpose for good to save Israel! (Gen. 37:28, 39:4, 23, 41:37-41, 50:19-21)
So now when I look back on some of the difficult times of my life, I can rejoice in God's goodness! The lessons that I have learned through those difficulties have been so important in my growing a maturing in my walk and relationship with Him. I have seen God use those times to help bring comfort and encouragement to friends and family who are going through their own difficulties and I have been able to truly understand what they are experiencing. If I had not been through my own trials and hard times, I would NEVER had been able to understand much if any of what my friends and family were going through during those hard times, and my words may not have been as comforting or encouraging to them.
I sometimes think of the question, “If you could go back and change anything from your past, what would it be?” When I think about that question, I only ever come up with one answer: if by going through those hard times in my past I have 1) learned some important lessons from the Lord and grown in my faith and 2) been able to help comfort and encourage others by personally understanding what they are going through and help them as God leads, I would NOT change any little bit of those hard times at all.
God knows what He is doing; trust Him.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
