From Carey Green, author, blogger, speaker, coach and pastor:
One of the most difficult parts of the Christian life is continuing to trust God when hard things are coming into our lives. In times of disappointment and pain – when situations worse than your wildest nightmares are happening to you.
And you are God’s child. How do you explain that?
- God, what are You doing?
- Why is this happening to me?
- I thought I was Your child and that You were my Protector?
But, you see, God is about bigger things than our comfort. His aim is the redemption of mankind and He does it by showing His glory to the people who are without Him. He wants them to see how marvelous and great He is so that they will be drawn to Him and place their faith in Him.
Many times, the way He goes about doing this is by using our hard times to reveal His glory.
You see, the world isn’t going to be impressed if they see Christians walking around with rosey lives. What is impressive is when they see people who are just like them – people who struggle, who fail, who suffer hard times – but who handle life’s hard times with the grace that only God can provide.
Therefore, the hurts in our lives are not wasted.
Consider 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
So, whether it’s by removing our pain altogether or helping us get through the painful seasons on our lives, God places His comfort into our lives so that He can use it to comfort someone else when their season of pain comes.
Trusting God in those tough times is the ability to know that God is good and doing good, even through life’s horrendous moments.
God’s promise in Romans 8:28 is this:
God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
So, as you and your family goes through hard times, learn how to trust God and know that even that tough situation is something that He will use for your good and for His glory.
These are powerful and necessary lessons for every Christian to learn… and for you to know how to teach your children.