Our Current Trial

What trial are you currently in? I want to share with you the one I just went through. As I eluded in my last blog Embrace the Unknown, God was calling me to step out onto the waters of the unknown. He wasn’t calming the storm before me—He wasn’t changing my circumstance then asking me to come. No, the wind was blowing and the waves were tossing!

The funny thing (it’s funny now) is the trail I was in was nothing I hadn’t experienced before. I’ve been in literal devastation—and lived tell of God’s faithfulness. In one summer not only did my childhood hero—my brother—die, but my two-year old daughter as well (read about it here Hero of Grace—Finding Treasure). Many times my marriage dangled by a mere thread. I’ve had three miscarriages, and been on the verge of death myself. We’ve lost our home and our business-starting over many times. I’ve had three of my dear sons walk away from the Lord—very heartbreaking—to say the least. I’ve been disowned by my family. And these are just the major events after marriage.

So I’m no stranger to suffering, what was so different about my current trial? I believe it was different because this time I knew (sort of) what I was fighting for. And as I look back over all the years, I see I was always fighting for the same thing.

It was a fight for my faith.

Your current trial is a fight for your faith.

For about the last year I’ve been in a season of purposefully strengthening my faith—my goal is to be fully convinced without wavering, (Romans 4:20). Therefore in this trial I was fighting to believe God’s Word and the devil was fighting for his ground of unbelief in my heart. God was purposing to remove a deeper layer of fear in my life—namely the fear-of-lack. Fear rooted it’s self in my life when I was a child. It makes sense—God’s plan for my life is that I’d be a person of deep, unwavering faith—the devil’s plan—just the opposite—fear.

Throughout my years of suffering I could feel God’s comfort, and even when the sea of the unknown tossed, as I remember it now, I felt I was in the boat. This time He stood out on the frenzied ocean, extending His hand, asking me to step out on a sea of unknown waters—to trust Him even as it raged.

I’m sure He’s always wanted this scenario and every battle I’ve fought has brought me nearer to this. And while I’m embarrassed to just now, decades after becoming a Christian, come to this place, on the other hand God is ecstatic with me!

I really thought I failed in this current trial, because my head continually bobbed in and out of the water. The heavy hand of the enemy’s oppression—the spirit of unbelief—continually tried to push my head under. I couldn’t sleep and when I did, I’d wake in panic. Worry overwhelming me like never before. The difference was—I fought tooth and nail to believe God’s promises. The harder I fought the heavier it got. Some days I sat all day just reading the Word or listening to worship music, continually praying—determined to own what I claim to believe.

I felt like I wavered, (I’m always way harder on myself than God is). He told me I won the battle the moment I determined to believe—the moment I chose to sit all day reading His Word instead of escaping by sleeping or watching a movie.

The bummer to pressing in while in battle with the enemy is that he presses harder. But God came running to save me the moment I began to falter. And in His faithful love He waited, watching and interceding for my success, holding back breakthrough—until just the right hour, knowing stronger unwavering faith was my real need.

What’s your real need? Breakthrough or stronger faith?

Have you ever read the book of Job? God allowed catastrophes (plural) to strike him. In it the enemy of his soul had a plan, which was to steal Job’s faith and get Him to curse God. God’s plan for Job was that he would not just know about Him but for Job to actually know Him, making God Lord of all—this meant Job’s faith would have to be foolproof.

Over the years God has delivered me from many aspects of fear and I’m very happy to say I am now on the other side of this battle—the fear-of-lack and the spirit of lack its self are broken off my life! You have got to love the faithfulness of God!

This is my song of thanksgiving to God! Psalm 34:1-7,

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.

Please be encouraged in your current trial to understand it’s more about your faith than your need.

James 1:2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Divine Rearrangement

I was recently reminded of a time in my life where the landscape of my heart and soul were rearranged. Prior to this divine rearrangement I was unsatisfied with my life and my simple Christianity, I knew there had to be more.

In my thirst I cried out to the Lord asking for His rain, fire, wind and flood. I did this with an unpretentious understanding that He would come and bring something fresh. What I didn’t realize was that it would rearrange my entire life.

When we think of the rain of God—we picture Him showering us with His love, the fire of God is pictured as His intense presence, the wind—His Spirit flowing through us, the flood—an abundance of refreshing.

That’s very poetic, but in all reality when those four elements arrived they overwhelmed everything I knew, and when they left I was rearranged. Rearranged for the better of course—and in the end that’s all that really mattered.

I was reflecting on hurricanes and tsunamis, or storms of any kind—after their initial devastation the landscape, to say the least, is rearranged.

Most times we don’t understand why hardships are allowed to interrupt our life—but what I do know is—God is constantly good, and always has a beautiful purpose for divine rearrangement.

Even the simplest most sought after situations bring rearrangement. Take marriage for example—the young couple so excited to finally live together, embark on their new life and suddenly reality hits—they have to learn to live their life in a whole new manner. It’s no longer about one person, but about selflessly giving your whole self to the person who just invaded your space! Now life is rearranged.

Or how about having a new baby? The couple has hoped and prayed and imagined how wonderful this new precious life will be. And yes, this baby is the most perfect gift. But truth be told—this tiny, adorable child has many needs! And life as you know it is divinely rearranged!

In all situations it’s our heart that matters. We must keep a soft, pliable heart towards God. Embracing the good and the bad—seeking His divine, sovereign purpose—even in rearrangement.

Please be encouraged knowing that if God be for you who can be against you!

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. James 1:2-3

Jesus IS Enough

To live a lifestyle where Jesus is enough, we have to walk submitted to His will in regard to all things both big and small. We also have to purpose as the Psalmist did, in Psalm 33:22 and 62:5 to put all our hope and expectation in Him alone:

 Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone.  Psalm 33:22

My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him. Psalm 62:5

When God started to require me to live in the manner where He is all I need, He introduced the concept of Jesus being enough through my best friend Cathy. Over and over again I would ask her to explain what it means for Jesus to be enough.

Has God ever asked you to do something that you feel totally unqualified for? For me it seems this way quite often, especially during difficulties and suffering. In these times, I find myself saying to the Lord, “I can’t do it… but You can.” This is the essence of Jesus being enough. It’s where we come up short, knowing He will make up the difference and equip us for whatever He asks us to do or walk through.

To better understand the concept of Jesus being enough, visualize a rough wood surface covered with divots, grooves and holes. Now imagine a large putty knife or trowel smoothing spackle over the rough surface. This results in all the unsightly blemishes and empty holes being filled in and smoothed out. In this same manner, Jesus fills us in where we are lacking.

This concept was hard to grasp, mainly because at the time, I was still living primarily in my soul. The “Me” factor did not like the idea of losing its independence and having to become solely dependent on God. My soul found it hard to trust Jesus alone, mainly because I wanted to be in charge of my life and its direction.

For months on end Jesus would ask me, “Am I enough?” My response was “yes” but inside emptiness gnawed at me. The questions continually came: “If I never did another thing for you, am I enough? If your life never got any better than this, am I enough? If you lost everything dear to you, would I be enough?” Again my response was, “Well of course, Lord.” I struggled with letting Him be enough, but I did not want to admit it. I thought that if I committed to letting Him alone fill me then I would not get what I wanted. Finally, I answered Him truthfully, “No Lord, I’m sorry, You are not enough, but I want You to be.” This pivotal moment of truth set my journey for more depth and passion with God into further motion.

A lot of Christians do not even know that Jesus is not enough for them. The reason—we get so busy living and filling our lives with temporal treasures. I personally have found myself in pursuit of the American dream many times. If our primary concerns for ourselves are to acquire money, possessions, self-gratification, praise, status and the like, then we can be sure these things, not Jesus, complete us. Therefore, it would be fair to say Jesus is not enough. Jesus is asking us if He alone is enough, or if we need our health and all our temporal treasures to be complete.

One more way to know if Jesus is enough is to examine your actions when a storm hits or when you’re simply confronted by a rough day. What do you reach for? The phone to call a friend? The internet? Sleep? Pain relievers or antidepressants? Comfort food? Do you escape and watch TV or a movie? Or maybe you just default to your soul and you emotionally act out of stress, taking it out on everyone in your path with a nasty, bad attitude like I used to do. My comfort was also found in sleeping. When life got tough I would close my door, shut my life out and take a nap. This was one way I could avoid the truth. Other times I would look for consolation by calling a friend or escaping with a good love story chick flick.

Now that I am living in the reality of Jesus being enough, I follow a simple self-discipline guideline—I do not allow myself to call a friend unless I first call on Jesus. It’s the same with the movie—no escapism. I first have to check out the greatest love story of all…the Bible! The best news is, I rarely ever feel like shutting life out with a nap anymore. Instead, I shut myself into Jesus as my only comfort.

Jesus is enough where relationships are concerned

If relationships are let go into the hands of God and if we can turn to God as the one who fills us—not people—then we are free.

1. We are free from the emotional roller coaster that some relationships bring.

2. We can let go of all our unhealthy expectations of people.

3. Most important, we are free to just love people without choking the life out of them while trying to extract from them what we need to make us feel complete.

God longs to complete us, He wants to be enough for us where relationships are concerned. Sometimes the people we love just don’t have it in them to meet our needs—nor should they. Only God should have that role in our lives. If we let Jesus be enough then we can have healthier, freer relationships that are not all bound up by human expectations.

God has shown me that as I let Him be my everything, even in relationships, I am free to love without expecting anything in return. My love then is based out of purity and truth instead of manipulation

In the past, I tried so hard to make the people that I love, love me like I thought they should. That is reasonable when it comes to your spouse and parents because there are certain responsibilities that come with these relationships. But not everyone is whole enough to love as they should. This was true for my family. Rejection, betrayal and abandonment brought so much sorrow and pain that I would not have been able to function properly if God had not used this concept to help me love, honor and respect as the Bible requires me to.

In one of the most pressing times in my life I wanted to give up on my marriage. I knew it was not God’s plan that I give up and in a very dark season God turned to me and asked me some serious questions. “If your marriage never got any better, would you still love Me? Could I be enough for you? Could I be your husband? Would you allow Me to love you where he can’t? Could you love your husband for Me? Could you lay down your life as a bridge to him? Could you bridge his path to Me with your life and allow Me to be enough for you?”

I never could have done any of this without first giving my life up to Jesus and clinging to Him. Yes, it was agonizing and painful but by the grace of God I chose to let Jesus be enough for me.

I encourage you to be found in Him alone and to let Him fill in all the blanks in your life. Jesus undoubtedly is enough

Hero of Grace—Finding Treasure in Tragedy

September 30…a day forever etched on my heart—it marks the day, twenty-six years ago, that my daughter died. I’ve decided to post the following blog every year on this date. As a memorial to her, to my family, to those who have lost loved ones, to those who suffer and mainly as a thank you to God—who by His love, mercy and grace heals the brokenhearted. I wrote it last year, but honestly it rings with the truth of finding treasure in tragedy—that never ages…

A quarter of a century has gone by since my two-year old daughter Haylie Anne, left my arms to be in Gods. It was September 30, 1986. Twenty-five years is quite a while, even so, at times it seems as yesterday.

When Haylie died I quickly wanted another child, so the void in my heart would be filled, I soon learned the spot she held in my heart was hers; and it remains hers till this day. It is interesting how each child holds a certain place in our heart. I’ve given birth to seven children, as each one arrived, their place in my heart never crowded the other. My heart only expanded and made room for each.

The meaning of Haylie Anne’s name is Hero of Grace. God in all His wisdom allowed a hero of grace disguised as a wide-eyed, precious girl—to visit my family. For what purpose? How could such a short life serve a great purpose? Haylie may have lived only two years but the imprint of her life is still alive.

At her funeral a friend sang a song he composed. The words have never left my remembrance, they  rang; “Haylie chosen of God to do His will on this earth and now the princess has married her prince.”

Yes, her death was tragic and unexpected, but her life warmed my heart, filled my arms and has lasting effect.

In tragedy we can always find  treasure. God has deposited numerous treasures in my life through hers. Because of her, I live my life with intensity and intention, loving God and others as if I may not see tomorrow. Mainly, Haylie’s life and death have bridged me to God in a way that nothing else ever has or could. For that I am grateful.

Today, I just want to remember Haylie out loud, and to publicly thank God for His Hero of Grace.

Haylie, until we meet again…

Following is a three-part series of finding Treasure in Tragedy, also written last year in the weeks after the Hero of Grace post. Understandably this is long, but well worth the read. If you, or someone you know needs to find treasure in tragedy please read and or pass this on. Thanks!

Part One
The Hero of Grace post talked of finding treasure in tragedy, I now realize the need to share; “how” to find treasure in tragedy. Not only in death but all forms of heart-break and devastation.

First, realize suffering is part of life. It is written into every script, no one is exempt—it visits the rich and the poor, young and old, including everyone in between—only the degree and intensity may vary. We live in a fallen world where death, sickness, loss and all forms of sin and suffering abound.

The common question is why? Why would a good God allow suffering to come to good people?  The truth is; God is all good and all-knowing. God is the only answer for life, especially when it hurts.

Evil continually tries to war against God’s goodness, but the truth is evil lost two-thousand years ago when Christ bore our cross, stole the keys and was resurrected.   Basically the devil is a bully, who continually tries to convince us that God is not good.

It’s interesting how when tragedy strikes everyone blames God. That’s what I did when my daughter died. God helped me through the time of her sickness and death, then I turned right around and became angry with Him. Why? Why do people automatically blame God as if He was the one who brought the calamity?

Remember evil always trying to war against good? The fact is—the devil—the enemy of our soul—is evil. His whole purpose is to kill, steal and destroy, even greater, he wants us to curse God. He wants us to lose faith and turn away from the only One who can help us! The devil is worse than tricky, he brings devastating situations into our life that cause heart ache and pain, getting us to turn away from our only source of  hope and help—then laughs. Do you know why he laughs? Because his evil plan has left us hopeless. Not only hopeless but angry, bitter, unforgiving  and empty—without help.

The way (or the how) that I found treasure in the tragedy in my daughter’s death was as follows…

The Lord in His grace, showed me myself—I was angrily shaking my fist at Him, blaming Him for my pain. He spoke and said why not shake your fist at the devil—the enemy of your soul? Why not shake your fist where it will do you some good?

I realized I was basically working against myself, my hard heart towards God and my anger were hurting me and making my situation worse! Again by the grace of God, I turned my fist to the enemy, to the one who came to destroy me and my family, he came to steal our faith and kill us spiritually, hoping that we would spend eternity in hell with him.

I am not a very passive person and believe me when I caught a glimpse of the devil’s plan and how he got me to turn on God the One who loves me—my only help, I was furious and I still am! All my anger is harnessed and turned against evil. I will not give the devil one inch in my life or in that of my family. When he tries to comes against me my faith only gets stronger and my dependency on God increases.

The enemy’s plan for humanity is to turn us against God and to cause tragedy—his hope is that we will not find any treasure in it. God, in deep contrast to the devil, plans that we find good, in all that is bad. Understandably, it is difficult to see any ray of sunshine in thick darkness and pain, but guaranteed if we will make a shift in our thoughts towards God, soften our heart and not blame Him, we will find just what we need—hope, help and healing—we will find Him.

The big question at this point would be—how? How do i keep my heart soft? For me the answer was in surrender and trust. I let myself be loved by God. I surrendered to His love and help, then there—in the place of true love—I found trust.

Think about this . . . if you don’t soften your heart and surrender what are your options? Be angry and become the bitter person everyone avoids? Surrender to the devils plan; curse God, live a miserable life then die and spend eternity with him? If you ask me none of these are even options. Why not get on God’s side where hope, comfort and real love await?

Surrendering to God caused me to find treasure in all situations. The biggest treasure of all is my relationship with God.

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” John 10:10

Part Two
Heartache, if allowed can pave the way to a deep connection between you and God. There was a saying going around when my daughter Haylie died; “You can get better or you can get bitter” I hated that saying. Of course I wanted to get better. . . but how? (Years later He required broken instead of better…but that’s a different story!)

The day after her funeral my husband and I, along with our four-year old son Joshua, went out-of-town to try to regroup. One night while waiting for a table at a Mexican restaurant  a mass of people scooted in next to us, they sat so close that their daughter’s feet were in my lap. We chatted and the inevitable question came up. How many children do you have? At first we all froze. This was the first, but certainly not the last time that question was ever asked. Truthfully, I still stumble for the right answer. My husband looked at me, I looked at Josh, we fidgeted and looked at each other again. I answered and out came the whole story. The woman who asked the question was a beautiful, subtle blonde who wore a soft, yellow turtle neck. Tears came to her eyes as she told us the story of her two-year old daughter who died, just a few years back. I looked at her and said, “You are so beautiful and look so normal. I don’t think I will ever feel normal again.” Her response was,  “God and time.”

In the following years when tempted to bend towards bitter, I would recall the woman in the yellow turtle neck-adorned in grace-without a trace of bitterness.

God put that woman in my path. He faithfully causes our lives to curve and bend in directions that lead to Him. He had the answer (the how) to the better or bitter question, before I ever asked it.

All throughout the time Haylie was dying and clear through the grieving process God in His faithfulness set up situations just as this one. Little helps and nudges that assisted me in healing and finding Him. A surrendered, tender heart, toward God will allow the treasure of His faithfulness to heal us.

How do we get through tragedy?

• We set our heart to believe that God is good—no matter what we face He is good.
• We trust God and His faithfulness—He is faithful.
• We can rest and be assured in the understanding that God will not let anything we cannot handle come to us. This means He has faith in us that we will make it through. (1 Corinthians 10:1)
•  In our weakness we are made strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-11)
• We know that God see’s the beginning from the end and will help us. (Psalm 121)

Jesus suffered and in essence made a way for us. (Hebrews 5:8) Through His suffering we are made whole, we are comforted knowing that even though in suffering—we might not feel whole—we have faith—that we are whole because He is whole. We know God’s amazing love fills in all our gaps. There is not a religion and/or pill that can promise that!

A treasure I found in tragedy is this—I look at it as purposeful. Why? How?

Why not? If I find my self in the school of suffering then why not let God be God? Why not let Him turn what the enemy meant for harm into good?

Suffering should cause us to see our weakness and thrust us into God. He is the only place we can take our pain, questions, misunderstandings and disappointments of life. This is where we can lay them all down, let them go and make an exchange. Our pain for His comfort and healing.

The “Hows” of finding treasure in tragedy are easy—trust God—He will never leave you or forsake you.

“For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has mercy on you.” Isaiah 54:10

Part Three
The most beautiful occurrence in history was wrapped in tragedy. The cross which once represented shame and death is now a symbol of life and beauty. Just the same, all our suffering can be given in trade for beauty.

Some say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. God—our beholder, longs to give us beauty for ashes. Our biggest obstacle would be our inability to believe in the miracle of such an exchange. This is where faith makes an entrance. Treasure for tragedy is only an oxymoron for those who can’t believe. But for those who can believe without seeing, it is a welcomed reality. Of all the hows given in these blogs on finding treasure in tragedy, this quite possibly is the most important.

I used to think pain was my portion in life. Frankly after my two-year old daughter died, I was terrified of pain. I lived with the fear that I did not want my future to be as painful as my past. However because of this fear, it was difficult to engage in the present.

Let me give you some more insight into the year Haylie died. Three months before she died, my older brother also suddenly died. He was twenty-nine, my childhood hero and friend. Less than a year before his death, my marriage took a huge hit and was very unstable. The only way to describe the pain of  that year is to say; it felt as if the music stopped and life was blank. Yet the world continued. And somehow I was expected to continue as well. I was twenty-four years old and the stubborn stains of pain and tragedy were attempting to embed themselves in my very person. The enemy of my soul wanted suffering to define me. Thankfully, the One who loves me wanted it to refine me.

It is important to examine our attitudes toward tragedy. The story of Job in the Bible was one of those books that I wanted to ignore. Mainly, I neglected it because I was afraid of its content. The book of Job tells about one man’s outrageous suffering. Suffering was what I lived to avoid, so why would I want to read and learn about it?

I was able to avoid the story until about six years ago, when my world completely fell apart. The catastrophe was nothing like the year Haylie died, yet it was devastating. I believe it to be so because of my attitude towards suffering. I had the attitude that I had already suffered enough for my whole life time. I did not have the understanding that suffering is not a tally keeping kind of situation. Neither did I realize that suffering is part of life. God used Job’s story to shed new light on suffering as well as change my perspective and attitude, teaching me to embrace it.

Job 1:1, declares that Job was “Blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil” This tells us Job had faith. Job was the kind of person who trusted God, therefore he fortified his life and belief system. He had seven sons and three daughters. He had good health and plenty of wealth, he was well-known and admired.

The tragedy that tumbled his life was this: all his children died, all his possessions were destroyed as was his health and reputation. Sounds like a great story huh? Actually it is, because when the weight of tragedy fell on him, he was unwavering in his belief in God.

He said of suffering in Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” In verse 22 it says, “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.” In Job 2:9-10, his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

The book of Job is a great place to learn of God’s sovereignty and of our human frailty. Job not only held fast to his faith during suffering, but He found God in a way that only suffering can bring. The art of embracing suffering produces the treasure of genuine faith. Following are but a few treasures from the book of Job.

When God speaks to me or when I hear a good sermon, I always ask God; how do I apply this to my life? So likewise I want to give you hows on applying these treasures to your life.

Treasures we can discover from Job:
1. Job fortified his life: Satan wanted to steal Job’s faith—he couldn’t because Job trusted God before tragedy struck. The key here is to be in a close relationship with God and be grounded in His Word, so when life serves up tidal waves we will not drown. Go under a bit; probably, swallow some water; yes, but when we are fortified in our faith, we quickly find God as the life-preserver. We see God’s love as a sea without a shore, never-ending and always available.
How to  fortify: Surrender and pray. Read the Bible—believe it and do what it says. Get and maintain an intimate relationship with God.
2. Job did not blame God: His attitude about suffering and God were in balance.
How to not blame God: Embrace suffering as part of life. Accept the fact that God is good, He cares for you and will never leave you. Believe He is trustworthy and faithful, regardless of the circumstances.
3. Job accepted good and bad from God: He trusted God to do His best for him, even in suffering.
How to trust God: Give up grudges and forgive. Surrender your will. Lean into God and see what happens.
4. Before suffering Job thought he knew almost everything; after suffering he realized he really didn’t know anything: The realization that Job came to during his suffering, was that he was prideful and God is sovereign. Read Job 38-42.
How to deal with pride: Face the truth—God knows everything and we don’t. God allows suffering and we are not above it—come to grips with this fact and allow God to accomplish something good in you through tragedy.
5. Before suffering Job knew about God; after suffering he knew God. This was the biggest reality that hit me after my huge crushing six years ago. I realized I knew a lot about God, but I had yet to actually know God the way He desired me to know Him.
How to know God: All the treasures above coupled with the Holy Spirit, will lead us to the point of stepping into an intimate relationship with God where we actually hear His voice, do His will and personally know Him. It really is all about surrender. Once we hand our life over to Him and let Him have His way, He meets us and draws us closer to Him. Here He heals and delivers us. In the place of true surrender we find rest, peace and safety.
6. Before suffering Job was upright, after suffering he was holy: Tragedy refined Job and made him holy. Basically the heat of the fire he was in, melted away his self-sufficiency. Setting him beyond normal, away from pride, causing him to see his great need for more of God.
How to be Holy: Holy–defined as set apart. The applied cross and blood of Jesus makes us holy. Another way holiness comes is by refining, because refining removes impurities. To be holy, we must allow God to be God in our life, allowing Him to set us apart for His good works. Let suffering refine us, making us more like Him, causing us  to see our need for more of God.

In conclusion, the suffering I found in tragedy has strengthened me, mainly because it has caused me to draw all of my strength from God. It’s made me realize my weakness; therefore my great need for Him. I no longer live in fear, but in Faith. Faith in Someone higher than I. Also I now know God—not just about Him.

A treasure that I behold, is the importance of submitting my will to God’s will. God’s will is all I want. For someone like me with such a strong, stubborn will, this is indeed a good thing! I have peace where as before, peace was illusive. Living controlled by my will was exhausting—control and manipulation always are. I am more than ecstatic to let God have all control.

It’s my prayer that these blogs on Treasure in Tragedy have helped you at the very least to organize your heart and thoughts in regards to suffering. And at the most I hope you can trust God with all your cares.

 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:1-5