The theme for this post came to me from two different magazines I was reading yesterday (Discipleship Journal and Marriage Partnership). Two very different sources with the same message (and from two very different article topics). Here’s the thing…I don’t think the message is for me. It’s not that it couldn’t be for me (and perhaps it will be sometime in the near future), but my heart is telling me that I am supposed to write about this topic for someone else—someone who might be reading this right now. So I will be obedient to His leading and trust Him with the results (and if it turns out it was meant for me…that’s OK too).

Here are the quotes from the magazines:

The thought never crossed my mind that God might want to use my pain to turn my heart toward him. (MP, Fall 2008, page 16).

Most Christians believe that God will never give them anything—any hardship—that they cannot bear. They rely on what they read in 1 Cor. 10:13…The context of that verse, however, is key. Paul is speaking about the temptation to sin…most of us don’t read the verse that way. We think the apostle is assuring us that God will never give us a trial we can’t bear. The fact is, God will allow hardships in your life that you simply cannot bear…Yet there’s purpose in the pain…You can go through almost anything if you know the Lord of the universe is going through it with you. (DJ, Sept/Oct 2008, page 34-35).

I am only giving you a small piece of each article. I highly recommend that you read the second one in its entirety. It is entitled Borrowing God’s Smileby Joni Eareckson Tada and it is a great article. But even in these small excerpts you get the point.

Trails will come into our lives. We will have pain. You’ve experienced it. I’ve experienced it. I see it every day. It breaks our hearts. It hurts. We don’t understand it. But it’s still there and we often question why God allows it. Certainly don’t be fooled into thinking God promises to protect us from all pain and trials. Very much the opposite:

 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through,
as if something strange were happening to you.
Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with
Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing
his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
1 Peter 4:12-13, NLT

It is through our trials and our pain that we become more like Him. It is then that our hearts are turned toward God. It is then that God gets to shower you with His love and grace and mercy. Are you going through a tough time right now? Do you know someone else who is?

Take heart. God isn’t surprised by it and He wants to use it to shape you into His image, turn you toward Him, and show you just how much He loves you. Now that’s a great message…and I pray that God will use it to minister to those who need it (you know who you are).