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There are many instances in life when we go through a difficult situation
and ask the question of “why did this happen?” We ask “Why did we lose
that job, why did that relationship end, why are my challenges so great,
why do I have to go through this difficulty, etc?” We ask why because we
want to understand the reason for that discouraging situation. What we
fail to realize in our questioning is that receiving answers to those
questions will not bring the relief that we thought it would. Instead of
asking why we should be thankful for that situation. We may not have
realized it at that moment, but it serves a great purpose in making us
better, wiser and stronger than we were before. Every difficulty, every
discouragement, every challenge serves a purpose for our life. We become
better, more equipped, stronger in faith, more trusting in the Lord, and
through our newly gained wisdom we are able to help others overcome the
challenges and trials in their path. (Proverbs 2:1-9) (Deuteronomy 4:30-31)
What we must remember and keep in mind is that going through life on
flowery beds of ease does nothing to build our character, strengthen our
resolve or give us a backbone of steel, but going through the fire does
all of these things. Did you know that steel isn't really that strong
until it has been tempered by fire? After it has been put through the
fire at a very high heat and then cooled down very slowly does that same
steel become up to seven times stronger than it was before the fire.
Before the fire, steel could bend, break or snap quite easily, but after
the fire it is very difficult to bend or break that same piece of steel.
That is what we must realize about our life; we are being made stronger
from the trials and challenges that we face and overcome.
(Psalm 145:8-9) (2 Chronicles 34:27-28)
I encourage you to stop questioning the Lord with your “why's” and start
trusting the Lord that you are better now than you were before. You are
more equipped, more able, more wise and more likely to triumph the next
time you face a similar situation. We must remember that life is all
about learning and teaching. When we know better we do better and when we
know how to do better we can help someone else who is traveling down the
same road that we have traveled before. Be encouraged to use what you
have learned to your benefit and to the benefit of those around you. See
your growth and allow that to encourage your heart to go forth and live
with confidence and with an assured knowing that God has not and will not
leave her side. (2 Timothy 4:17-18) (Psalm 69:30-34)
I hope this message encourages and inspires you to stop asking why and
start applying what you have learned for your betterment and the betterment
of those around you.
LIVE THE ANSWERS
As I looked up at my Mom’s picture hanging above my desk today, I realized
that it is now almost 15 years since her death. Thankfully, over the years
the pain and sense of loss have eased while the memories of her life and
her love have remained. I can still feel her presence as I write this. I
am sure that she is not only smiling down on me from her picture on the
wall, but from Heaven as well. I only wish she hadn’t left us quite so soon.
The great teacher, author, and speaker Leo Buscaglia said that he was often
asked by his classes why we have to go through pain, suffering, and even
death. He stated that he never did find out why, but at some point in his
life he stopped asking the questions and started living the answers.
“That”, he said, “made all the difference.”
How do we live the answers? I think we do so by choosing love, joy, and
oneness with God everyday of our lives. We do so through pain as well as
comfort. We do so through suffering as well as happiness. We do so even in
the face of death. Some of the wisest, gentlest, kindest, most loving, and
most joyous people I have ever known are those who have suffered the most.
The only difference is that they used that suffering to help them to grow
into the people God wanted them to be.
What good is pain, suffering, and even death if we don’t use them to grow
more loving, more giving, more compassionate, more peaceful, more joyous,
and more at one with God? I think my Mother knew this as she battled cancer
in her final years and faced death at such an early age. She blessed us all
with her love, her joy, and her gentle laughter right up until her dying
day. I only hope and pray that I can live my own answers as beautifully
and wonderfully as she lived hers. May all of you lovingly live your own
answers then in this life and in the next.
By Joseph J. Mazzella
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto
thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall
direct thy paths.”
Psalm 34:1-4 “I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall
continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the
humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and
let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and
delivered me from all my fears.”
Isaiah 40:28-29 “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the
everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth
not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He
giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth
strength.”
Psalm 34:17-19 “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth
them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a
broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the
afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.”
Psalm 103:1-5 “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless
His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who
redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness
and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy
youth is renewed like the eagle's.”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today’s Selected Poem: WISDOM OF THE SOUL
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/enpoem182.htm
Today’s Selected Testimony: SAND OR GRAVEL?
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony101.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry |
