Because I have been around a while, I have experienced grief and different kinds of losses. And there are times when I’ve gotten lost in those things, and then I can’t find my way out! Something that helps me is to pray like this … ‘Please help me Holy Spirit.’  Complicated prayers are hard to remember when your head is spinning. The thing I’ve learnt is it is best just to be myself and own what’s really going on in my heart.

Sadly, I have also learnt there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to trials and difficulties. There are times when you just go in one end and stagger out tired at the other, wondering how you ended up IN there in the first place! You can also get extra tired expending your energy by trying to escape from the hard times. I am slowly learning to stop doing a ‘coroner’s report’ on my own actions, by analysing and second guessing my thoughts, when the trouble doesn’t melt away – like it is supposed to. I repent and repair stuff, give it all to Jesus, and run and hide in the secret place. Psalm 91.

Often we can lack in faith because we have let other people and their experiences become our own personal criteria. Christianity is experienced firsthand. It is a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Praise God that we also have a Personal Tutor to help us through those trials and difficulties …but, there can also be long times of waiting to see what comes next!

I think we’ve almost beaten to death the verse in Acts 10:34  where Peter said: “…God is no respecter of persons.” Many of us have used this verse to assume that if God did that for you, then He will do it for me too. In Acts 10, Peter is talking about God not leaving out the Gentiles, when they had sovereignly received the Holy Spirit. He was not speaking about escaping from some difficulty or other. The context of a scripture matters.

I have come to understand that sometimes there are no shortcuts, we simply need to take the time alone with the Lord to seek our own answers. And we can’t afford to get sidetracked by someone else’s experiences. It’s a bit like taking someone else’s medicine. It could work … but it may not, and you could end up with a stomach ache.

Here are some quick illustrations that show us there are at least two ways out of trouble – sovereign intervention … and slogging on! Twice, an angel opened prison doors for Peter. And Paul and Silas were also delivered by an earthquake. But after that happened, Paul was imprisoned in Rome twice, once for two years and another final time for one year, he had to live through his incarceration. God will do what God will do, our part is to stay close to Him and co-operate. However, let’s also stay alert that we are not being tricked by the enemy into giving up our God-given inheritance.

When it comes to growing through our difficulties we have so much to gain along the way. We can grow in steadfastness. James talks about it in 1:2-4: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  Meanwhile, if I falter or fall over when my faith is being stretched, then I’ve learnt to ask others to pray. It is also a good thing to practice repenting, as I have found that I am often, metaphorically speaking, already on the floor anyway!

We may feel like we are slipping and our faith is no longer solid, when we go through hardships. One man who felt flattened by life said this in Psalm 73:2: “But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.” That line is followed by a clue as to why the man had nearly slipped over in his faith. He began to look at the prosperity of the wicked, and the fact that it seems like they live a care-free life. The thing is, comparing ourselves with anyone else, is the first step onto a banana-peel that can cause injury to our faith.

The bible tells us in James1:3-4: “Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace].  And LET endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.” We gain endurance, maturity and inner peace as we yield to what the Lord wants to do. Almighty God is good, kind, gracious, and loving. That’s a fact! And if He allows a trial or test to come into our lives, because He is so good, we know we can get through it. But we don’t put our faith in our own willpower – we believe in His goodness. 

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” I Corinthians 10:13. I can sometimes be heard walking around my house muttering: “God’s got a way through this”… over and over again. I try to say it out loud because my ears need to hear what my heart believes, even when my heart has the wobbles.

Sometimes we need to go through the trials and difficulties, because we are growing the same sort of qualities in our lives that Jesus had. We can’t afford to be influenced by other people’s experiences simply because we are being stretched and we desperately want the EXIT sign. Bless you! Bye. 🙏