Trials

 

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." -Philippians 1:6

 

   I have been following Christ for almost a year. I realized that I had nothing to live for and I couldn't do this without God. I surrendered myself to Him and accepted Him into my life. Since then, He has been changing my heart. It started with a fire, and now there are trials.

   My latest test has been a reminder of who I really serve. The past month has been a back to back of me falling short of my own expectations. Particularly at work, but just a back to back of making mistakes.  Of course these mistakes are not on purpose and they are genuine mistakes. However, they were occurring more than normal. One mistake after another. I was getting down on myself and almost desperate to prove that I am not incompetent!

 

   God is funny in the way He works and the way He teaches us. I was getting to a point where my fire was burning low. I just didn't understand why God would put me in a career and allow me to... well, struggle at it! Why would He do that? Certainly He would put me in a job to be good at it to show others that following Him makes you good at your job and somehow in that they will want to follow God too? ...Sounds kind of selfish now...It sounds selfish because it is and I was being selfish.  I realized that my earthly job means absolutely nothing if I'm not serving Him. He showed me this by allowing me to realize that I was looking for approval from people and not Him. I wanted to be good, I wanted to do well for myself and not for the glory of God. It's easy to do! We all want the approval of others and to be liked! It's in our nature. But, we are not perfect and no human approval will ever amount to the love of God.

  My lesson learned was that no matter what I do, do it for the glory of God. Do this because when I had nothing, He provided and when I deserved nothing, He gave me everything. No man could ever do that, even if he wanted to. When I go into work, I remember who I serve and that makes all the mundane worldly things seem so trivial compared to the purpose and peace God has given me. That doesn't mean I stop working hard or that I will stop struggling with this, but it means that God has given me a lesson to help me get through the day to day. A tool in remembering why I'm here and that He is with me. A reminder that if what I'm doing is not for God, it holds no value.

 

   God puts trials in our lives to teach us lessons. He does it because He loves us. He made me realize that when we go through things like this, to be glad of it! It means God is working on us! It means He loves you so much that He, the creator of the universe, thinks of you and what you need personally to grow. When you had a professor, teacher, or mentor go out of their way to help you

 with something, you respected them for it because they didn't have to do that for you. Think about the God who created a universe that we can't even wrap our minds around took His "time" to think about what you needed to make you better. He didn't have to do that. He does it because He loves you.

 

   We all go through trials. We go through small ones and we go through big ones. I have most definitely been through things in my life that were harder than others. But it's not a measure of the trial as it is a measure of faith. If you are in a trial of some kind right now, no matter how difficult or how impossible it may seem, know that God is there. There is a reason and a purpose for it. He is doing a good work in you because He loves you. If you have to, as I did, force yourself to get into the word. You won't always have the hunger and desire to do it. Do it any way. It is easy to forget that our God is for us and not against us. Be glad that He is working on you.

 

 

 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. -James 1:2-4