I have been contemplating the purchase of Matthew West's new book entitled The Story of Your Life for awhile. Last week I finally ordered it & received it in the mail Monday. I am not much of a reader at all (guessing it's due to reading so much during school & staying on top of current research for work). Surprisingly, I am already halfway through the book in only 4 days! I would highly recommend this book. It's absolutely amazing! Below you will find some thoughts from the book to ponder. It's only from the first half of the book but I'll write another post after I finish.
"Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." - 1 John 3:18
"Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the ninety-nine will read the Christian." - D.L. Moody
"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." - John 16:33
When you & I face trouble or heartache or pain, we can begin to focus on the darkness in our lives & miss the never-failing presence of God. After enough rejection & disappointment, we can even begin to doubt God, wondering if He's made a big mistake, wondering if He has forgotten about our trouble & our pain. But it's the accuser who whispers those lies. Satan is the one who calls your life worthless. He is the one who makes you doubt. Satan is the one who wants you to believe your life & God's ways are mistakes. When you are already suffering the troubles of this world, Satan can step in with his lies & make things even worse. My friend says, "The devil shouts; God whispers." Maybe all you've heard lately are the shouts.
He longs to work in your disappointment to bring good from your pain.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you...for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30
His forgiveness covers our past, His power covers today, & His faithfulness covers our future. In Christ, all things are possible.
"We boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." - Romans 5:2-5
How does anyone rejoice in suffering? In the testing of their faith? I think we learn to rejoice in our testing because through the testing, we learn what to believe about God. We learn that our trials are not surprises to God. He has a purpose in everything that has been allowed. And His purpose is always about shaping us into the image of Christ. Teaching us in every trial to look more & more like Jesus. Turning our hearts & minds toward Him. We learn that Christ is with us. We participate with Him in suffering, & He with us. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us, & He meant it. The testing of our faith brings an intimate knowledge of Christ with us. His compassion toward us. His mercy for us. We learn that people who are tested by their trials can choose to stay with God or wander away in their anger. When there are no answers, people who are tested have to choose what they believe & whom they will turn to. We learn that our trials produce in us a character that cannot be shaped by any other means. That we are tested so that we will become people of perseverance, character, & hope. That truly great people have become stronger in their suffering.
"I don't want to get to the end of my life & find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well." - Diane Ackerman
Don't you want to live the width of your life too? There is only one real way to do this - by making choice to see beyond your own little world.
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