Coming in to the Good life...

I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world." John 16:33

Do you have trials?

Are you distressed?

Are you frustrated?

The Bible says to "Be of Good Cheer" I don't FEEL cheerful. Yet the Lord says that I can be of good cheer when I encounter trials and tribulations. It doesn't mean that I did anything wrong. That's the first thing that I think about when I'm encountering a few difficulties. The first thing I do is fall on my knees and ask God to reveal to me whatever I might have done to deserve the tribulation... Then I wait to see what He reveals to me....

But what if there's nothing to reveal?

What if I have earnestly searched my heart and asked God to reveal whatever it is that might have set up this tribulation that I have assumed has come because of some "Reaping what I've Sown" mindset... and nothing... I am right with the Lord... I have asked forgiveness for anything that might have grieved his spirit... And I still find myself in the season of tribulation...

I received healing from this word today in my Joyce Meyer daily devotional... If trials come against you, don't try to figure out whether you sowed some bad seed that produced them. Trials will come, but if you will obey the Word of God long enough (not just five minutes of trial and error), sooner or later, you will come into the good life that God has prearranged for you to live.

WOW! Do you know that God has a plan for you? He has a purpose for you? He set the wheels in motion for that purpose to be fulfilled long before you ever "DID" anything. We just have to play out that plan... All the bumps and potholes along the way are part of the plan... He is teaching us patience through the trials... He is building up in us character traits that only come through trials, temptations, and sorrows... We wouldn't know the joy of success if we hadn't felt the pain of failure, would we?

We wouldn't know the sweetness of restoration without the sorrow of separation?

We couldn't possibly understand the meaning of hope without having first received something so wonderful as a result of waiting before... If we never had to wait on anything, then what could ever be called "special", "God-given" "blessed"... All these things come from having waited on something.

Everything, God works to the good for those who "Trust in Him"... Give God the Glory for your trials... "Be of Good Cheer" because we KNOW that "Joy comes in the morning." That it's always calm after the storm...

Just trust him a little more today in the middle of the unknown... He is always faithful...

Waiting on Him,
Lea Anne