Three Truths that Turn Trials into Triumph

You can be riding down life’s victory road when out of nowhere you run into a pothole of problems. Sound familiar? Almost every day we are confronted with some troublesome trials that test our faith.  Some are minor, others major.  Some rock our boat while others send us into a death spin. 

So how do we get through these problems quickly and without shaking our faith or tarnishing our testimony?  The following three truths can help smooth those patches of life’s rough roads. 

1. God is in Control

The lot is cast into the lap,But its every decision is from the Lord  Proverbs 16:33 (NKJV)

What appears to be chance or bad luck is not! When you acknowledge that God has sovereign rule over all human affairs, then the ability to see God’s hand working is much easier.  The twist and turns that life often takes can cause us to doubt and fear but when you realize nothing is out of control, God is still in charge then the doubts and fears vanish.  

2. God Never Stops Loving.  

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJV)

God’s love is both everlasting and unconditional. His love is not far away but close at hand. 

“Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord,“And not a God afar off? Jeremiah 23:23 (NKJV)

During troubled times rest and be assured that God continues to love you and has not departed from you. You are not alone.

3. God Understands

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15 (NKJV)

Remember God can identify with your problem. Since Jesus, God the Son, walked on earth as both man and God and experienced life, you can find comfort in the fact you are not facing this trial or these trials alone. Find strength and wisdom from your Lord knowing that he understands sorrow, hunger, disappointment, dread, and all of your feelings – and that He cares! So “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV) walk tall with the assurance that you will overcome this trial.

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Warning! Trouble Ahead

In the New Testament there are three words used which embrace trouble. These are tribulation, suffering and affliction. Each words differs somewhat, and yet each of them mean trouble of some kind. Our Lord put His disciples on notice that they might expect tribulation in this life, teaching them that tribulation belonged to this world, and they could not hope to escape it; that they would not go through this life on flowery beds of ease. How hard it is to learn this lesson! Yet, we have this promise: “In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” There is the encouragement. As He had overcome the world and its tribulations, so might they do the same. Adapted from E. M. Bounds, The Essentials of Prayer.

You may find this blog helpful: Turn the wheel into the wind!

Turn the wheel into the wind!

When your boat is in rough waters, secure your anchor deep and man the rudder into the wind. Life will sail you into some troubled water. When it does, make sure your faith is firmly secure in your Lord and then face the trouble head on. Ride it out. You might even find that the wind whistling through your hair and the rain hitting your face invigorating.

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.  Hebrews 2:10

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Blessings

Pause often to reflect on your blessings. In our haste to live life, let us not be neglectful of the blessings we have been granted. When we remember our blessings, we keep the right perspective of our problems.  

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. (Psalms 32:1)

We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way.  ~Author Unknown

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Proper Perspective of Problems

Have the proper perspective of your problems.  Don’t make them bigger than they are. They are not the end-all nor are they insurmountable.  They are, however, some of life’s greatest teachers; and often some of life’s greatest opportunities if you hold the proper perspective. 

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1-4 ESV)

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13 ESV)

“Helen Keller was blind and deaf when she graduated from college with honors. So what's your problem?” ― Charles F. Stanley

 “Inside of every problem lies an opportunity.” ― Robert Kiyosaki

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” ― Thomas Alva Edison

Check Out this Wisdom Tidbit: Blessings

Help Others

Find the joy of serving others. Helping others is an unselfish act that will bring joy to you and the person you help. Serving others also helps you to gain the proper perspective of your problems. Service to others creates a true win-win situation; and opens the door to the heart and allows the gospel to be heard. Share 

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. (John 13:14)

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Let The Lord Handle It!

Here is good advice: Let the Lord handle it! Many problems and situations are beyond our control and capabilities. Often our attempts to resolve our problems only make things worse. If you are facing a problem or state of affairs where your efforts only seem too be muddling the waters, then back off and let the Lord handle it.

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. -Psalms 55:22 

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The Other Side

On the other side of the clouds the sun is shining. Look beyond the clouds and see the sunshine.

The clouds of life (troubles, sickness, etc.) can block the light and cause us to live in gloom. When you look beyond the clouds, you can enjoy the sunlight. Look beyond the problems to the problem solver, Jesus. That's the secret to smiling during a cloudy day.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

Take the challenge! Let For His Glory: 31 Daily Meditations enrich your walk with the Lord. 

Job opened his mouth and...

Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. Job 3:1.

THAT is, the day of his birth. Probably there have been hours in the majority of lives in which men have wished that they had never been born. When they have stood beside the wreck of all earthly hope, or entered the garden of the grave they have cried, "Why died I not from the birth!" The reason for this is, that the heart has been so occupied with the transient and earthly, that it has lost sight of the unseen and eternal; and in finding itself deprived of the former, it has thought that there was nothing left to live for.

One of the greatest tests of true religion is in bearing suffering. At such a time we are apt, if we are professing Christians, to exert a certain constraint over ourselves, and bear ourselves heroically. We  have read of people in like circumstances who have not shed a tear or uttered a complaining word; and we have braced ourselves to a Christian stoicism. "I am sure you cannot find fault with my behavior," said one such to me. And yet beneath the correct exterior there may be the pride and haughtiness of an altogether unsubdued self.

There is a more excellent way: to humble oneself under the mighty hand of God; to search the heart for any dross that needs to be burnt out; to resign oneself to the will of the Father; to endeavor to learn the lesson in the black-lettered book; to seek to manifest the specific grace for which the trial calls; to be very tender and thoughtful for others; to live deeper down.

"Nearer, my God to Thee! — Nearer to Thee!E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,Still all my song shall be — Nearer, my God, to Thee!Nearer to Thee!"

F.B. Meyer, Our Daily Homily