TWAIN ON PAIN

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

 “What is joy without sorrow? What is success without failure? What is a win without a loss? What is health without illness? You have to experience each if you are to appreciate the other. There is always going to be suffering. It’s how you look at your suffering, how you deal with it, that will define you.”   ― Mark Twain

So often we “beg” GOD to “remove us” from the trials and tests of life.  

I know I do. 

I can remember more than one occasion when I “promised GOD to never do or allow that again” if He would remove the problem or get me out of a current crisis or challenge.  I think it is human nature. No one wants pain.  Yet GOD repeatedly reminds us that there is “purpose in our pain”.

…We are full of joy even when we suffer. We know that our suffering gives us the strength to go on. The strength to go on produces character. Character produces hope. And hope will never let us down.

Romans 5:3-5 (NIRV)

Yet often when we are in the middle of a trial or test, the refining, the hope, let alone the blessing, are sure hard to see.  But GOD promises that 

1.   The trial won’t last forever… (1 Peter 5:10)

2.   He won’t let us be consumed by it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

So, the question often surfaces, what do we do to when these trials come?

What do we do to when the test feels so overwhelming and difficult?

Simply put we are to TRUST.

Trust the TRUTH.

If GOD says it WON’T overwhelm us, then GOD can be TRUSTED. 

He doesn’t lie. 

If He says we will make it to the other side, if He says that the trial is temporary, if He says that there is something good at the end, then we MUST believe Him and press through the pain.

you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.…we’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive, TRUSTING all the way.

Hebrews 10:38-39 (MSG)

All of us have moments of pain. 

We all suffer loss. 

But even though we may not like it, Twain is right. 

Without the trials and failures, we cannot fully experience the victories. 

It makes them all the sweeter.  

Our job is to "stick it out" as the Hebrew’s writer implores.

I know SO many of you are facing a test or trial today!

We have talked about them.

Maybe a decision or choice has resulted in an ugly consequence and you are in the middle of its pain.

Keep your head up. 

Fix your eyes on the ever-truthful, completely TRUSTWORTHY Father.  He will bring you through it. 

He promised.

And He doesn’t break those.

God has made a great many promises. They are all “Yes”

2 Corinthians 1:20 (NIRV)

Have a blessed DAY!

I love you all.

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE