Forgotten

Sometimes I look at the pain that I'm experiencing and I feel stuck in a rut. Every day it's the same routine. The same problems. The same struggles. I thought I could grow out of my past insecurities and overcome the discouragements I once felt, yet they still remain.

A BROKEN HEART

While driving home from work this past week I was questioning God - "Through this season it feels like You're breaking my heart, how can this be strengthening me?" It was then I felt God reminding me that God can use the broken pieces of a life full of pain to strengthen our relationship with Him. It is when we are at our lowest that we seek after God and crave Him more than ever. It may feel like God is breaking your heart, your joy is depleted and your hope is lost, but when we're focused on God, He can use our pain for something amazing.

I like to view trials as tests given by God to see what road we will take - the road full of pain and sorrow or the road of contentment and pleasure. Let me tell you the road of pleasure sounds tempting, but few take the road of pain and sorrow. We look at what we can see instead of where it leads. We focus on how we feel instead of what is true. Satan likes to use our issues and maximize the dominance in our lives. He wants us so focused on our insecurities, flaws, problems, and doubts that we perceive our struggling as something negative. He wants us to focus on our feelings and throw what is true out the window. He wants us to get so off-track, so discouraged that we keep walking down the wrong road. When we are walking on the path of pain we may grow weary, but we can remember that God is near and we can look through His eyes to see our situations in a different light.

ALWAYS ACCEPTED

When we see our flaws and feel discouraged in ourselves we can remember that no matter what anyone else says, thinks or does, we are always accepted in God's eyes. When our situation seems like it will never be made right, we can remember that God is in control and nothing sneaks past His hands. All things are working together for good. Maybe you're tired of waiting and wondering if God hears your prayers. God hasn't forgotten you. He hears you. He is protecting you. He is strengthening you. Keep going. Keep preserving. Don't lose hope.

God's timing is perfect and He has a reason for what He is withholding from you

A DIFFERENT PATH

Looking to my past I've seen things in which I've desired a certain outcome and God chose a different path. I tried to nudge my way in the direction I desired, but I felt God leading me down a different path. Now I can look back and see that God was protecting me all along. I didn't realize it at the time, but it's amazing to see how He always knows best, even when I somehow think I know what's best for me. How stupid I am sometimes. How I felt like I was forgotten, but then when I look back I can see that God never left my side. He was there all along.

We may feel broken and beat down by our current circumstances, but God is using this time as a test to see how we will react. What will you choose? To be strengthened or will you pass up an opportunity? Use this time as a launchpad to use your pain as a tool, not as a discouragement. Ask God to teach you through this trial. Nothing we go through is meaningless. God is using us even amidst our daily routine. He is in the small things just as much as the big things. Don't underestimate what God can and is currently doing in your life. Trust in Him, remember you aren't forgotten and you can look to the future with hope!