Successful Trials

I have a distant friend who has started the process of adoption twice and so seriously that she even paid for medical expenses and possessions for both birth moms. Prepared with a new baby name and hopes that in the end, she would be able to carry home to the nursery adorned with all of her own baby possessions, a little pink bundle of joy. In the end both moms have backed out leaving her with money lost and an overwhelming list of emotions, not to mention empty arms.

Anytime a woman I know has issues I grab my handy dandy women helping women book dripping with scripture for topics such as this. Here is what I found...

Isaiah 53:10 says...'The Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render himself as a guilt offering. He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.' Even though Jesus was crushed and grieved, later He was rewarded with the knowledge of His Father's good pleasure. You may be crushed and grieving now, but you can rejoice in the fact that someday, if you are faithful, you will be rewarded with the experential knowledge of God's blessings in your life."

I think the part that stuck out to me in it is that the scripture itself said that "The Lord was pleased to crush Him"

Not that He just sit back on his huge throne with a goblet of Cherry Coke and giggles at the enjoyment of our sorrow...but just knowing that He allows suffering so that in the end we will be so much closer to Christ and so much more like Him. I just makes the trials so much more worth the fight. Not that I want to go through trials, but I will go through them and some will be worse than others. Since I have to go through them, I certainly would not want to go through trials knowing that God was not pleased by them and that His will is not accomplished through them. I think of God as a huge coffee filter who allows things good and bad to fall through so that we can become more like Him. I have a friend who tried for many many years to get pregnant and she never could...finally the Lord blessed her with twins and WOW what joy filled ALL of our lives because we all got to be a part of the prayer/fasting, and support process. And boy is she a warrior for Christ...such a spiritually strong woman!

I have seen the hand of God so many times in situations like this. It's hard to tell someone when they are grieving that God is control of the situation, especially if I have never been through what they are going through. Does it really change the purpose of the suffering though. The goal in the end is so that He will be glorified through us. We are a vessel. If we could only take our eyes off of ourselves and focus on the fact that the Lord is pleased in suffering when we allow Him to use us, then what a blessing in disguise.