Growth in the Trial
Trials teach us incredible lessons, but unfortunately, many get stuck there. What could have been used as a temporary lesson and growth opportunity can be given the power to paralyze you if you allow it to take control of your life.
When I first got married I was stuck in the pain of the abuse I experienced as a child and my husband bore the consequences. It filled me with anger, insecurity and lack of trust for anyone of the opposite sex. An action that happened occasionally over a few years was now allowed to fester and have control over my emotions, mind, marriage and life. Yes, abuse is a horrible thing to endure as are many other types of painful experiences, but the effects can be diminished as we choose to find healing in the presence of Jesus. You can actually come out on the other side of your affliction with victory, stronger faith, a life changing testimony and a new realization of God's power and love.
I had to fight my way out of my pain by no longer allowing the enemy to continually fill my thoughts with the painful memories. I began to renew my mind with the powerful, life changing, living Word of God and as I did, it began to purge me of all of the negative memories of my childhood. There was no longer room for that trash because my mind was filled with the love and promises of God! My identity then had to be reestablished in my relationship with Jesus until I no longer saw myself through the eyes of the abuser. Now it was through the eyes of the Spirit. Whatever painful situations you've experienced, use them as launching pads to growth, greater knowledge of the Word and deeper intimacy with Jesus. There are many who are depending on your healing to lead them to theirs.
Through the pain you've experienced, though the enemy meant it for your destruction, you have gained specific insight into the heart and mind of those who have experienced similar trials. As you experience your healing use it to lead them to theirs.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NLJV) “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
Revelations 12:11 (NKJV) And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Genesis 50:20 (NIV) You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives
James 1:2-4 (NKJV) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
