BEAUTY OUT OF PAIN

I don’t know who I am writing for today but I want you to know that God loves you too much to leave you in your comfort zone hence this experience. He wants you to know that He is able to step in and stop any experience that will destroy you. If He doesn’t stop it, it is because it won’t kill you. He made you and has you in the palm of His hand; He knows what you can handle. He wants you to know that He is right there with you though He is silent.

Psalm 23: 4 “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me.”

After several years of being a believer, I had gone through several different experiences and thought I had experienced the worst of the dealings of God in a man’s life until a few years ago when God was determined to take me out of my comfort zone for a greater course. It was an experience that tested the very core of my life and faith. I lost my job (a job I held for 13years), my friends (those with whom I went into the house of God), meanwhile the cold hands of death had taken the man I had come to see as father since I lost my own father. Unfortunately, this was all intertwined with my place of worship (my safe heaven) and I had to quit that too. I was a persona non grata and I saw the frailty of man even at his most anointed. Though God had prepared me for it, all the preparation seemed very inadequate as I went through this difficult time which seemed endless at the time.

2 Corinthians 4: 7-8 “we now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.”

Now I thank God for that experience and truly appreciate everyone that was used one way or the other to accomplish God’s purpose at the time. How else could I have come to where I am today? It is not about where I am today but the fact that I am better positioned for the greater walk ahead of me. God is “the way maker”; He made a way for me out of a situation I thought had trapped me. The devil had it neatly tied together but He brought me out and into another level just like He’s doing for you.

Psalm 66: 10-12 “You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver. You have captured us in your net and laid the burden of slavery on our backs. Then you put a leader over us. We went through fire and flood, but you brought us to a place of abundance.”

You may right now be in a situation that looks like a maze, please don’t try to figure it out because you can’t; you will only frustrate yourself. Just set your eyes on Him knowing that those that put their trust in Him shall never be put to shame. I know the pain you feel right now is real but rejoice for the joy that is set before you. Honestly, the end is closer now than ever before. At the end of it all, you will like what you have become.

Hebrews 12: 1b- 2 “And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross disregarding its shame. Now He’s seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”