And…no one raised their hand! Well duh, who would volunteer for a trial? And it’s obviously not necessary because if we’re on the “right side of green,” you will have trials in your life. The length and depth and frequency of them is most likely out of your control (although our life choices DO bring some extra ones our way…).
But as a general rule, God is in charge of the trials that appear in your life. This is such a big topic that scads of words have been written about it. I don’t claim to have any market on “trial insights,” but I do plan to give it at least three back-to-back posts on this site. And maybe more later, if God so leads.
So, this week, I’d like to share the miscellaneous snippets of wisdom I’ve gained through the trials in my life. And I’d like to start with one that is often the mainstay in my life today: God does His best and most permanent work through our trials. I believe that with my whole heart. I didn’t read that anywhere. It’s a statement that I’ve come to all by myself!
But first, I’d like to go back in time about 10-12 years. Dale and I had just returned from an amazing trip to Hawaii, celebrating big birthdays for both of us as well as a big anniversary year. It was clearly a mountaintop time in our lives.
I can remember having a conversation with God about this time, thanking Him for ALL the blessings in my life. (And ‘secretly’ hoping He wouldn’t take them away, because…I WAS grateful!) I was married to the love of my life. We were enjoying an idyllic life on our acreage. Our physical and mental health was good. We were active in our church and loved our family there. I couldn’t, in fact, identify any stressors in our life at that time.
But for some reason, I was reading a book by Randy Alcorn at the time entitled, “If God is Good; Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil.” Quite a contrast to the life I was living then! But, I remember getting to the end of this book that talked SO much about all the ways that God blesses people through their trials and feeling…a little left out. Crazy, right? But I felt like God had not deepened my faith since I was living a pretty trial-free life at the time. So, what about me?
Fast forward about six years and Dale has now been diagnosed with vascular dementia, and we have consequently moved off that beautiful acreage into town because his mental and physical health had deteriorated to the point where he couldn’t do the work any more and I couldn’t do it alone.
That first year in town brought one crisis after another into our lives. It was relentless. Dale suffered so many health crises that year and we were constantly going to the ER, or in a hospital in Des Moines, or Iowa City or even up at Mayo. Add to that some deaths in my family and a myriad of other difficulties and it was a year that we both wanted to forget. I remember crying often AND crying out to God. All I could say was, “I hate this. But I trust You.”
That’s the next piece of wisdom I gained. Even when I couldn’t see an end to this painfully relentless year, I KNEW that God was sovereign over it all and that He COULD be trusted. That’s all I clung to for months.
Fast forward again another six years and I have now lost that love of my life. There is much sorrow and grief and loneliness in my life without Dale. The life of a widow is not one I would wish on anyone.
And yet…there has NEVER been a time in my life where I have learned so much about God, where I have felt His presence more intimately, or where His Word has been more alive in my life than now. Guess what? I don’t feel left out any more!
I can’t say that I’m grateful for this pain, but I am grateful for all the good that God has brought into my life because of it. Not really a “snippet” of wisdom, more like a granite slab!
Join me next week as I delve a little deeper into the biblical support for comfort through trials.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12