WHY AM I GOING THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, 
but later you will understand.” 
(John 13:7)

MEDITATION:
Life can become very confusing can’t it? We can be amazed at the 
creativity of some people. However, we can be astounded at the bad 
choices some people make. In our own lives, we can have trouble 
understanding how or why some things happen to us.

Peter didn’t understand why Jesus was performing the act of an 
insubordinate by washing his feet; he felt that he should be the 
one washing the feet of Jesus. Peter spent many days with Jesus 
and yet had trouble understanding some of the things He did. If 
one of His disciples was confused by the actions of Jesus, then it 
stands to reason that we will also be confused by His actions in our 
own lives.
 
Sometimes we are blessed beyond anything we believe we deserve.
Yet, at other times, we can experience something that can be debilitating 
to us physically, emotionally, or both.When that happens, we have to make 
a choice.

We can feel the Lord has forsaken us and allow it to devastate us, or 
we can assume the Lord is close at hand and will be there to help us 
endure it. When we make a positive choice, then we can begin to look 
for what we are to learn from our situation, and how He will use it to 
touch lives (our life, or the life of someone else).

Some of the things that happen to us can handicap our hopes, our 
plans and possibly our own physical condition. Being handicapped 
either physically or emotionally is not the worst thing that can happen 
to us. Some of the most twisted and miserable people have never had 
any kind of handicap.nHowever, some of the world’s greatest and most 
useful people have been handicapped.

“The Messiah” was composed by Handel, who was suffering from a 
paralyzed right side and arm. Catherine Booth, in the last year of her 
life, said that she could not remember one day free from pain.

Helen Keller has written, 
    “I thank God for my handicaps, for through them 
      I have found myself, my work, and God”. 
Some of the most radiant Christians, are ones who could 
be called “wheelchair” saints.

We had one of those at our church who recently passed.
It must have been a struggle for him to get up, get dressed 
and make it to church, but there he was every Sunday, 
holding on to his walker with a radiant smile on his face.

ACTION:
Are you struggling with physical or emotional pain right now?
If so, then like Helen Keller, consider it as a gift from the Lord.
It may sound crazy, but when the Lord is working in your life, 
there are some things that 
    “you won’t realize now, but later you will understand”.

It is a time for you to thank the Lord for patience to endure 
what you are going through, for His presence to help you, 
and a time to grow closer to Him. Your difficulty could be 
God’s way of bringing you back to Him. May God give you 
grace to “triumph in affliction”.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, You know what I am going through right now and You 
know how I am struggling trying to understand why. Even though I am 
confused, I thank You for being with me and look forward to seeing how 
You use my situation to ‘work for good’ when I show my love for You and 
acknowledge that You have ‘called me according to Your purpose’. Forgive 
me for the times I allow Satan to use my circumstance to develop a negative 
attitude in me. Show me how to see the positives in everything in my life. 
I pray that You will help me to understand now, so that I can be a better 
servant of Yours and draw closer to You. Help me to remember Romans 8:28 
as encouragement in the midst of my circumstance.”


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