So it was hard for me to think of how to write about today’s lesson.  There is some truth in there that I am at peace with but that can be a bitter pill to swallow…here in this passage, we do not see God as a warm fuzzy teddy bear, the way the world often depicts Him.  In our reading about Moses, we see God saying, “If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all His decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.” (Gen. 15:26).  The Lord brings disease?  Yes.  The Lord brings the storms of life that threaten to engulf us? Yes.  The Lord brings things into our lives which cause us pain? Yes. Isn’t this out of character? No. Because He never does these things in an arbitrary or random way.  God always has a purpose. As He went along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:1-3).

I have had some difficult relationships in my life – more than I care to mention.  It seemed that Lord would never stop presenting me with people who would try to control me or who would deliberately wound me.  And I was already wounded – I have been a broken, abandoned, approval junky for as far back as I can remember.  I look back now at my journey and see how long it took me to understand His purpose for me.  When I was much younger, I was just in survival mode, trying to accommodate everyone.  Then I became reactionary – everything offended me and I used my own anger as a shield.  Later, when I saw God’s hand in all of it, that hurt me the most – how would He bring me to such devastating emotional circumstances again and again?  Why did He not rescue me? Didn’t He love me? Finally, I came to a place of understanding.  This is what I wrote in my journal: Why did God fill my life with angry, passive-agressive (or sometimes just aggressive), controlling people?  It took so long for my rebellious heart to yield to the Lord and so much longer to understand His great love for me.  He loves me enough to put me through the fire.  I am worth investing in – He sees my potential though it has taken me far too long to see it myself.  He knew I was trying to rely on those people and when they let me down I tried to rely on myself.  He wanted me to see that the only one I can rely on is Him.  He wanted me to see that who I am is not defined by what others see in me but by what He sees in me.  He wanted me to make Him my fortress, my help in the storm.  So He brought the storms again and again.  He wanted me to focus on Him rather than me.  So He made me see that He was calling me to care for these difficult people rather than having them care for me.  He didn’t have to change them; He had to change me.  Lord, shape my character in such a way that my defining moments are not the bad memories and the times of defeat but rather are the times I saw you so clearly working in my life.

Ironically, once I submitted to God and realized this truth about Him  (that His plan for me was best because He is God and I am not ), He began to bring healing to me – sometimes by removing the difficult people, sometimes by giving me peace with them, and yes, sometimes by changing them.  Everyone faces different challenges. Some are physical, some emotional, spiritual, financial, social, and the list goes on…but they all have the same bottom line:  “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed.” (John 9:3).  Paul says, We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love (Romans 5:3-5).  He has given us His Holy Spirit!

God is Jehovah-rapha. He has the solution for our problems, He has the answer to our questions, He has the cure for what ails us.  He tells us “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19).  What challenges have you faced? Where has God taken you on your journey?  Has He shown you His purpose for you and your trials or are you still waiting to understand?  I wo

uld love to hear from you!

JustaGirl…just like you!