Your Trial Is Producing Maturity

After you have suffered...God...will...establish you

1 Peter 5:10

Stephanie Voiland writes: 'My friend...spent months job-hunting, and as leads failed to pan into paycheques she became discouraged. Yet...she refused to anaesthetise the waiting ache...She fasted from TV, believing God had given her this time to reflect on where she was headed. Through those agonising months God showed up in ways more profound than a job offer. She looked for a way to support herself; He taught her a new level of dependence on Him. As she waited for a potential employer's call, God spoke into her soul...She searched for a 'genie-god' to instantly meet her needs; God blew her away by revealing He's bigger than she ever dreamed. Eventually she landed a job and was grateful...but she was even more grateful to learn how God meets us through waiting in ways beyond those we can ask or imagine...Sometimes in the bleakest moments, His intervention manifests itself...we receive the perfect job, the physical healing, the necessary funds, and the wait is over. Other times He does the miracle in us.'

Gold only becomes valuable when the impurities have been removed in the fire, and God uses tough times like a refining process to bring out the best in us. He controls the heat, because His goal isn't to destroy you but to develop you. He tailors the trial to the area in your life that needs work, and as you mature He ups the intensity. Athletes start out training with light weights, and as they grow stronger they progress to heavier ones. As you grow in Christ, obstacles that once seemed overwhelming will be par for the course.