Trials...You Are Not Alone

Hope: the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: to give up hope.

"Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

-Isaiah 41:10

If you live long enough most of us will be hurt beyond repair, troubled to the point we cannot sleep and we all will grieve in such a way that we will lose more than just our appetite. Trials and tribulations, and pain and hurt, have a way of putting everything into perspective.

Ask a parent of a "special needs" child or mother that just buried her son what is important and you will get an answer that if you're lucky, and smart enough to realize, will cause you to question everything you do and why you do it.

Pain and suffering get our attention and they get our attention fast.

So what are we to do when an unwelcome trial arrives at the doorstep of our life?

The options are limitless and most of them usually make things worse. Below, I want to share three questions we should ask ourselves when we are hurting and three answers to those questions we all can cling to in our individual times of need.

• Ask yourself the question: "What can I control?" 

• The only thing we have total control in our life is our Attitude. Attitude determines outcome & altitude. I refuse to add anything else to that statement. 

• Next ask:"What am I to learn in this situation?" 

•  James 1: 2-4 states; "For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything." 

• We are to endure. When we do this we grow in courage, strength and character. And when we grow in those three areas we become of value to everyone around us and everyone we come in contact with... whether they realize it or not.

• It really comes down to faith and hope if we are truly going to endure. The key is what we put our "faith" and "hope" in.

• Finally, ask yourself:"Where do I go from here?" 

• The first place I go to is my knees. Psalm 61:1-3 is beautiful and reassuring... "O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I will cry to you for help, for my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge..." 

• God can take any situation and make it more than better. He can give us victory in each and every situation; he can take our bad and turn it into good. We may not get the desired outcome but if we trust in Him He will show us the intended message and where we are to go from here.

• At the end of the day, God is either in everything and every situation or He is not. The choice is yours... all you have to do is invite Him into heart and into each circumstance of your life.

"For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 'And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."

 -Jeremiah 29:11-13

John 16:33 say's, "I have told you all is so that when you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. 

I'm not sure why I chose to write about this today only to say it was on my heart. And though the words in this piece might be helpful to some and pathetic to others the one thing I do know is that we all experience trials in our lives. We all experience such pain and hurt that when we think about a certain situation that was painful it can, and usually does, bring us to tears.

Pain and suffering is universal and it spares no one. 

We all are currently facing a trial(s), we just came out of a trial(s) or a trial is just around the corner. That is an undeniable truth. And the question each one of us needs to ask is who will we depend on when the winds increase in strength and the waves get higher and higher? Will it be a friend, a parent or we will depend on ourselves? Will it be alcohol, drugs or an unwarranted relationship?

In closing, Proverbs 15:1 states that "a gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger." My intention or goal was not to stir up any anger in the reader or to come off as a know it all. It is just my belief that so many people are truly hurting in such a way that many times they find it difficult to even get out of bed in the morning.

I hope that person is reading this piece right now. It is my hope and prayer that they realize that it will get better. It comes down to our attitude, our desire to endure and our ability to admit we can't do it alone. Ask God for His help and his direction; ask Him today.

I usually reserve this type of commentary for Sunday but I chose not to today.

And for those of you that are hurting at this very moment, take pause and just remember... you are not alone and you will never be alone.

Hold on to that... you are not alone.

sbb  15.10.2010

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"He Is Concerned"  .  Cece Winans

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