Angels on High

In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus.  So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. 1 Peter 5:10

Our youngest son, Elijah, and I were having a great time playing outside in the backyard the other afternoon, when he suddenly quit laughing and drew my attention to a cut on his finger that was bleeding.   My focus quickly became geared towards how to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible, so I washed his hands and we found a Band-Aid for his minor injury.

Sometimes when we feel pain, we neglect the fact that God is still with us and become solely focused on easing our pain.  We quickly forget that God always keeps His promises to us and will never leave us or forsake us.  In fact, God will never desert those who follow Him. He never turns His back on us and never takes a vacation from caring about us or our pain.

Even if  we experience pain for a time, we must never forget that God promises to help and heal us!

Good Times, Bad Times

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.  1 Peter 4:12-13

Painful trails are simply a part of life.  In fact, Jesus assures us all that we will encounter trouble at some point over the course of our lives.  While we must experience some pain, God promises us that He loves us and that He will use those painful times to help us grow stronger in our walk of faith.

Trails are a lot like exercise-the more we go through them, the stronger we become.  How else can we learn to endure, grow our faith, and learn patience?  The pain we feel now is only temporary but it also provides us with an opportunity to depend on God and show our joy as we share in the sufferings like Christ.

Bad times thankfully come and go, but the development of our godly character is continuous and will last until we go to our eternal dwelling in heaven.