As I went into the store to pick up a couple of rotisserie chickens I saw two friends who are sisters visiting. I laughingly said, Hey ladies, blocking the aisle!” They turned and we laughed and hugged. One of the sisters had cancer a few years ago and she is a survivor. As I hugged her I looked and told her that she looks so young. She said sure and we laughed again. But I looked in her face again and truly she looks younger than she did before she went through her trial.
God spoke to my heart: When believers go through hard times they truly come through more beautiful than before.
The trial doesn’t transform them, but God does. In the hardest places, if we let the Lord do this, the transformation is obvious even to onlookers. “You’ve changed” we often say. “Something’s different about you”. This friend knows that God saw her through every step of the way. Was it hard at times? Oh you bet. Did she ever want to say enough? Probably.
Oh beloved, we are born again into an unshakeable Kingdom and our God is magnificent! He wastes nothing that we go through or encounter. He uses everything in our lives to make us more like Jesus. Kingdom living is the best way to live. No other people can shout from the housetops “Our God reigns!” If you are going through a hard time right now, it’s no time to settle in to the sorrow or pain. Those may come. But God is with you! The arm of flesh, even your own arm, might fail in the process, but GOD WILL NOT FAIL! He says about you: Overcomer, Valiant Warrior, Winner, Beloved! Trust Him now like you’ve never trusted Him before. No matter what happens – none of us are simply products of the outcome, for we are born again of imperishable seed- enduring, immortal, eternal.
God loves you and He’s for you. And He has taken an oath to be with you forever. If you’re a life who was changed in the process, sing it to the housetops. Others will see what you’ve been through and be drawn to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith! God blesses those who look to Him as they live in the Light of His Glory and Grace!
Psalm 119: 49 Remember Your word to Your servant, for You have given me hope. NIV
Romans 8: 37 -38 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow–not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
2 Corinthians 4: 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.
2 Corinthians 3: 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Ephesians 2: 22 And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.
Psalm 23: 3 He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him—not for my earning it, but] for His name’s sake.