Trial: A test of your faith. 

Trials are hard, but they're not JUST hard. If we continue to focus on just the pain, then we learn nothing. We keep the pain inside and it winds up affecting us. We can't hold onto pain from twenty years ago, and expect for the outcome to be positive. God doesn't gives us trials to curse us and make us miserable. He doesn't want us to hold onto anything that's not of Him, we do that all on our own. What He really wants is us to be free.

We are free by Jesus, but we choose to not believe it. 

Every trial should be seen in a joyful light. The mild, mediocre, tough, and even the seemingly impossible.

Why? Because enduring tests is how you become complete. This is our only purpose: striving to become holy. Trials help us reach our ultimate goal. Why be negative about the very thing that will make us great?

I want to be complete. Do you? We can't stay on baby formula forever. Imagine a grown adult drinking from a baby bottle on their lunch break? It seems ridiculous, but this is some of us spiritually. It's time to grow up a bit and endure some trials.

We see trials as a way to hurt us, but that only shows how weak we are. Jesus was strong, He exuded confidence. He could not care less about a reputation or Himself. He was content with this selfless lifestyle because He let God make Him complete! The Father wants you to live exactly like this. Let His grace and love overcome you.

Be so content in God that you're willing to live without thinking about yourself. 

You want to be content, but do you feel beaten down and broken? You're letting the pain from trials conquer you. Your faith in God shatters each time you feel like a trial is impossible. Your negativity and complaining are also destroying your faith. You telling yourself that you're not good enough only makes you weaker. Pretty soon you won't have any strength left to endure the trial.

But Rome wasn't built in a day, so where do we go from here? Well, God can't do all the work for you, but He will help you through. As you continue to rely on Him with every hurt and pain, trials begin to get easier. What once bothered you no longer does. Give Him your troubles, and remember to not take them back into your own hands.

Praise Him in the meantime, while He works out the perfect plan to get you through. 

And when we get through the first test, we move on and struggle some more. And the tests get harder, the going gets tough. We continue to build our relationship with the Father, and wind up getting more powerful. He looks at our heart and corrects it as needed. You will have to open up your heart to Him, though, to let Him do His work. This is hard, but with eternity in mind, not JUST hard and definitely not impossible.

"Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21)

Read Part 1 of this post here.