God, trials, and me

So I know when you probably saw the title of this one you probably thought, "Wow.  What is she going to talk about this time?"  But it is not going to be about the purpose of trials, because I think we all agree on that point.  It is going to be about things I have seen going on around me that I find very convicting.  Things that I see myself and others do every day and don't even think twice about it.


As Christian's I think we tend to walk through trials with the "If I can just get past this" mentality.  This scares me.  If we focus too much on getting past the trial then we aren't going to learn what God would teach us through the trial.  Yes, I believe it is okay to look forward to getting past your valley of the shadow and onto the other side and to find hope in the fact that it is only a season of life, but we should not be living for that.  We should be living to became more like God and right now you will became more like God by going through this trail.  I see myself doing this often.  And I have come to realize that as I focus on just getting past this I not only don't learn things that I should be learning throughout this time, but I also miss the small, every day blessings that God has surrounded me with.  It is all about learning to be content.  Realizing that if you are living for God and His glory, you should be fine with wherever you are, because He has deemed it BEST for you and it is what will make you look more like Him.


Past trials are the biggest help in present trials.  As Christians we need to realize this.  So often I see people going through a trial and once they get through it they just want to forget that is ever happened.  It is too painful a memory to hang onto and it isn't at all a happy one.  But if we forget all our past trials then we aren't going to learn the lesson that God is good--yesterday, today, and forever.  We lose the yesterday and as a result we aren't sure if He is good today and who knows about forever.  Instead of wishing away our past trials, we should be remembering God's grace and faithfulness to get us through those trials.  If we remember that God is the only One that got us through that trial (and He was faithful to get us through it) then we will remember in our current trials that He will once again be faithful and get us through.  Instead of looking at all the pain and hardship throughout the trial, look to the grace of God and the growth in yourself through that trial to motivate you to be content in the trials you are in today.  Remember God's faithfulness yesterday in order to help you get through today.


~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.