Trials

I was talking with a friend of mine about the trials we each are going through.
It is so easy to ask God, "Why? Why is this happening to me?"
Maybe instead of asking, "Why?" - maybe we should be saying to God, "Thank you for strengthening me."

God's word says he has a plan for us - most of us know Jeremiah 29:11 - but do we know the context?
Here is the context of this passage...

Jeremiah 29:10-14
10 This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

When I read this passage, it becomes a promise of Heaven. We are in exile on this Earth and through Jesus we will be saved. Hosanna! God has great plans for us, but we have to hold fast to his promises... We have to seek Him with all our heart!

Look at 1 Peter 1:3-9

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.


He is coming for you. Whatever pain you are feeling - whatever hurt you are going through... Praise God and store that treasure in heaven! He is refining your faith so Jesus may be glorified when He is revealed. Hallelujah!

I love these verses.
Praise God for our trials.
I know it is hard to do - but nothing changes that He loves us, and that He is watching over us.
If that is true, than what do we have to be afraid of?

God is strengthening us, and He will restore us.
He is always faithful to His promises.
If you are in an awful place today, know that God is near.
He has plans to prosper you.
He has plans to restore you.
He has plans to refine you.
He has plans to save you.

Do you trust Him?