Welcome to this week’s blog. The most powerful blog topics are our real life experiences that are occurring in the moment, our real time situations.
How can any of us gain understanding of what is happening to us in our lives? Why does God allow suffering, hardships, pain and sickness in our lives? Many believe if there is a God, none of us would suffer, experience hardships or sickness and pain in this life. In order to understand what God is doing in any area of my life, I first need to understand His convictions whether I like them or not. Why does suffering, hardships, pain and sickness continue to repeat themselves in my life, in your life? This question applies to all of us.
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again – 2 Corinthians 1:8-10.
Many of us continue to live a self-life independent of God and His will for our life. We believe if we pray daily He will answer our prayers. We believe if our prayers aren’t being answered in our timeframe, then we must take matters into our own hands, independent of God’s plan and purpose for our lives. Many people desire to live independently of God’s plan for their life. Many people tend to run from His process of breaking us down to build us back up for His purpose. Our characteristic tendencies are to avoid His process of reducing us to ashes at all costs. His plan is to simply build us back up for His glory, not ours. We were never created for our own personal gain, but for His glory, for His purpose.
In order to try and understand what God is doing in each of our lives we often find ourselves arguing with God and asking the same repetitive question “God, if you claim to love me why do you allow this hardship to keep happening in my life?” Why can I not stop this vicious cycle in my life? The good news is, God does have a purpose for our suffering, our repetitive hardships. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert – Isaiah 43:19. His ultimate purpose is to bring every area of our lives, not just some areas, to submission of His will so that we learn to fully trust in Him and His plan for our lives. He desires us to live in full trust of Him and not of our own understanding of this world. This brokenness is the path to His blessings. I am a witness to this.
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in thee Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Are there certain areas of your life in which you refuse to surrender self-control? Is it this area of your life that has God has targeted for brokenness? Surrender the inner desire to control your life and stop living independently of God.
The Holy Spirit, the spirit of God, indwells in me. In my life, He continues to target all areas of my life. For many, many years I have hindered God’s purpose and design for my life. Until I truly surrender my “self-will” control to Him, He will continue to allow hardships to be repetitive in my life. I know today what areas of my life I need to surrender body, soul and spirit to Him. He promises to live out all that is within me, because He is living through me. He has shown me what it means to “die to the self” to “lose this life” and submit to His will for my life.
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us – Romans 5:1-21.
Remember who you were made for? Christ, not self. He desires all of us to become living, walking expressions of Christ. Not just Sunday reflections. By this we to learn to no longer respond to “self-will” but submit to His will. Surrendering means you will be renewed day-by-day with momentary light afflictions that will bring great joy and peace to your life. I am a witness to this. Surrender and let God have His way with you! You will discover that God’s ultimate plan for your life supersedes your independent streak from Him. He will break us over and over again, in order to make us more like His son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Today I remain the master’s art, who molds me, shapes me and breaks me down to build me back up until I become more like His son. I no longer fear the loss of things of this world that are temporary compared to what God has willed for my life. I won’t allow myself to miss out on His blessings in this life or my eternal life with Him. I am totally and completely dependent on Him and His will for my life.
Blessings until next week,
Debra M. Pauli Unstoppable Believer
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