God Uses Trials

"Whatever your pain—the relational pain, the issues that you have to deal with, the things that seem like they are never going away—remember, they are not forever. There is a limit and God determines the limit, the duration. He knows what you can bear. He knows what He will give you grace to bear. But none of those trials will last forever.

And we know that God uses trials to test and to sanctify His children. He uses them to purify us, to strengthen us. So those trials are not without purpose. They’re not random. They have purpose. In the midst of it you may not be able to see the purpose. You may not feel like any great sanctification is taking place in you. But God is doing a work in you. As gold is purified through prolonged exposure to heat, so your prolonged exposure is doing something precious in you. It’s purifying. It’s bringing the gold out.

I just read this past week in my quiet time. I came to the book of Job and was in those early chapters. You know the story, but I was meditating on all the humongous losses and the excruciating pain, but knowing that God in heaven had divine purposes for allowing Satan to bring those afflictions into Job’s life. God uses these trials in our lives as His children...

God will give us grace and power to endure whatever the trials and for however long they may last...Remember that God is glorified and Satan is defeated and we prove that we belong to Christ when we remain faithful through trials, even to the point of death. That’s what we read in Revelation 12. "They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death"

- Nancy Leigh DeMoss

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." (Isaiah 43:2)

The excerpt in the post was taken from www.ReviveOurHearts.com

Thanks! I really needed this, I just recently went through a divorce after 38 years, the wife got hooked on prescription drugs and basically lost her mind and filed. On December 17th of 2012 she was found dead in her apt. from an apparent overdose, then my youngest son Daniel committed suicide on Feb. 24th of this year. I could never compare myself to Job, but I can sorta relate to some of the things he went through, my faith and Gods grace has sustained me. I am picking up the pieces a little everyday and trying to move forward, yes it's hard, really hard, but knowing I will see them both again, gives me the hope to go on.

Myself, and I am sure any others who have read your words, are praying for you. God bless you and please allow His peace to be in your heart, and His grace be given to fortify you.

MrBill, so sorry to hear of your heart ache and loss. What you have experienced is far worse then what I did in losing an only daughter to cancer. What happened to us was beyond our control in spite of efforts to prevent it. What you had was preventable...

May I suggest you focus on seeing the LORD Jesus instead of your loved ones. Your loved ones are not your Savior, Jesus is. You know that. Let Him comfort you - always.

Job encouraged me as well. What was so fascinating was that months before we knew Regina had cancer the Holy Spirit inspired me to read Job. Until then the book wearied me because it consisted of dialogues between windbags who engaged in circular reasonings and never knew when they were done talking - just kept right on. Boring! But there are nuggets in there to be mined that are profound, teaches us that human nature has not changed - still have windbags engaged in circular reasoning. And Job learned a profound lesson. We would rather read about the lessons others learned instead of being the subject of the lesson itself! And this is still operational today.

God bless, Bill.

ginnyrose

Beige and Ginny, thanks for your thoughts and encouragement.
I can tell you, to get through these trying times you have to keep your complete focus on the Lord. What has helped me, is knowing I will see my wife and child again,and that whatever the reason all this occurred, God will not let it be in vain. Ginny, I lost a brother to cancer back in 2001, we were close, and I still think about him so much even today.

I have never questioned God in all my adversities,sometimes I do want to go way out back to the creek and look up and yell "WHY" God? but I don't need to know why, to stay at peace with God and ourselves, it's probably better just to trust him and forget the why. Yes, I have listened to online audio on the book of Job, and read the book many times in the past years, it does give us a little prospective on what were going through. I find it improbable that anyone today, could go through what Job went through back then, without probably taking their own lives, Jobs trust and faith in God was second to none.

Ginny, as you know loosing a child is a totally different experience than any other death, but when you know that child is in Gods arms, it does ease the pain. Many times in the past month, I have asked myself, were would you rather be Bill? were Daniel is, or here. I know Gods plan will not be in vain, and the excitement of knowing this is what gets me out of bed in the mornings. Like Paul, He continually made an effort to press towards the mark of the high calling of Christ Jesus in his life. He was very determined to complete the will of God by running the race that was set before him and finishing the course, this is my goal.

I have had folks with children, that either don't know the Lord, or their faith is weak, that can't even call me. They just text me and say, I am sorry Bill to hear of what happened to Daniel, having children of my own, I just don't know what to say. I probably could not even talk to you about it, and I don't think I could even imagine how I could get through something like this. Well I am moving on by the grace of God, and the outpouring support of the true believers in my life. Ginny, or anyone that has been in our shoes, or even if you have not, just talking to true believers helps me so much, as I am sure Ginny can relate. I think my email is in my profile, if anyone would ever like to talk or share thoughts, please do. I have an at&t cell that's offers free calls to any other cell provider, only land line calls go against my minutes.
God Bless
Mr. Bill

____________________________________________________________
QUOTE:
"but I don't need to know why, to stay at peace with God and ourselves, it's probably better just to trust him and forget the why."
______________________________________________________________

You are absolutely right on this.

I used to think that once I get to heaven I am going to ask God 'why?'. But I have since decided that once I get there it will not matter. AND God is not obligated EVER to answer our "whys?" If we look around - and you do not have to look far - there are a ton of things going on that make absolutely no sense and you wonder why on earth God allows this or does that. To accept it means I am trusting his judgement because he knows more then I do - we are looking through a dark glass, the details are obscured from our view.

If there is any benefit it does have the potential to either draw us closer to the LORD or it will drive us away because of bitterness. It is up to us.

I agree, Bill, your situation is much worse then ours, but I also know God is still there waiting to comfort. One gets a brand new view of God and that is what he wants. I also know that in God's economy nothing goes to waste - God uses all to His honor and glory. This TRUTH is vital in helping one understand the mind of God.

God bless.

ginnyrose