Hardships

Hardships. Have you ever wondered why God allows you to go through things that are hard in life; trials and tribulations you thought you would avoid once you became a Christian?  Why do we suffer the same things that those that don’t belong to Christ do?  Shouldn’t we have an “advocate” that protects us from these types of things?  We go through divorce, financial issues, the death of loved ones, the loss of jobs just like the rest of the world does, but why?

One of my favorite section of verses in the Bible gives us insight as to why we go through trials and tribulations as Christians. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” - 2 Corinthians 1:3-5.

There are things in my life that I wish I never had to go through and I hope I never have to go through them again, Lord willing. But those trials and tribulations produced in me the ability to comfort those that go through it after me. How much easier is it to talk to someone who has lost a spouse if you have lost one too? Or how much can you comfort someone going through a divorce when you have already gone through one yourself?

Sometimes the trials and tribulations that we go through aren’t always about us. How we handle those trials can serve as a witness to our faith in Christ to those watching who are not believers. It can also serve as an experience for a future event involving someone else that goes through the same trial. The Bible never promises us a trial free life, it actually promises the opposite, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." - John 16:33.

Are you going through trials and tribulations now brothers and sisters?  What can you do to be a witness for Christ through the midst of it?  What can you learn from it to support other who will go through the same thing later?  “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”- Romans 8:28-29.

Have a great day and God bless.