Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
I find it very interesting if the Lord wants to prune something out of my heart that He does not like, I will continually find myself in a situation that irritates me, or around a person I do not like, or completing a task I find so tiresome. It is true that life's difficulties and trials, while I do not believe God causes them He certainly does choose to use them to refine us.
Think about when you exercise or lift weights. What strengthens your muscles and bones is the resistance of the weight. When you have no resistance you could sit in the gym all day long but you would not get stronger and you would not get leaner. Life is the same way. What makes us strong or those things that are difficult.
We have a choice. We can ask ourselves what lesson is it that I am supposed to be learning through this situation? OR we can let the trials of life make us bitter and angry.
If you think about your life, the things that have changed you were the those things that were difficult. Easy stuff doesn't change us and make us better. It is the hard stuff that makes us stronger, make us grow up and become mature and complete and ready to receive and fulfill all the plans and promises of God.
Or we can continue to go around the merry go round of feeling sorry for ourselves, get defensive, angry, remain unteachable, and unmanageable. And we can continue down the same path we have been on, getting no where fast.
We get to choose, will we become better or will we become bitter? One leads to life and one leads to destruction. If you are facing difficult battles right now in your life, don't give up. Your breakthrough is just around the corner. Keep pressing in, holding strong and praying. The battle always gets the fiercest right before the breakthrough.
May the God of peace guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
XXOO,
Nancy