Have you ever been through a rough time in life? If you have, you have plenty of company, including Jesus himself. And if you haven’t, well just wait, your time will come. Not trying be pessimistic but it’s a fact of life in that eventually, you will have a rough time. If it be financial, spiritual, loss of a loved one or persecution.
The great thing about it is that God has a purpose for your rough times.
“Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing”. James 1:2-4
Hcsb Bible
We will never know for sure the exact reasons but one of them is for our maturity as people and in our faith.
An example of mine is that of my grandfather that died about a decade ago. At the time, I was devastated and wanted The most to have him there with us so I could play one last game of chess or have one more conversation. But that wasn’t Gods plan for my life and his.
Looking back, God used his death to catapult me towards God and my church family. Before, whenever I have any questions, I would go to him and ask whenever he was available and we could talk about anything while we played chess. Now because he’s not here, I had to depend on God more than ever.
After his death, I ended up going to Church often as I could and started reading my Bible. I then started going to church camp and eventually surrendered my life to Gods ministry. Now, could my life still have changed the way it is now? Yes but probably not at the rate at which it did and would have been slower.
I say all this to say that in your times of struggle, you can grieve and experience all the emotions that you’re feeling but also keep your eyes open to how God will be changing you. The situation could be to mature you or to correct your view of the world or to refocus your life on God.
Whatever it may be, there is always a reason for why God allows you to experience trials, especially when persecuted. We may never know in this life the reason but rest assured that God has a purpose and plan for those that are called his children.
So keep your eyes open during trials, you might be in the midst of a blessing in disguise even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time. I hope everyone has a great day.
The Bible Life 