Our Trials Don't Define Us...

               They Refine Us..

Early this year, the foundation of our family's lives was shaken as my siblings and I came from across the state to be at the side of our much beloved mother, the heart of our home.  It is significant to me in so many ways that it was her heart which brought her children and grandchildren to her side.  An annual testing led our "pink tight-wearing, white haired" sassy Mama to be taken into surgery for what appeared to be a life-threatening condition.  My Daddy, siblings, and I held hands in a circle around our mother asking God to heal her, and He did.

Earlier still, I received the call from the sweet daughter of my beloved sister-friend, Helen McFadden, to come quickly to tell her goodbye.  I had just seen her less than six weeks before, stood in her family room in a circle of prayer…Helen, her husband Phil, me, and my husband Ian who asked God to bring healing to her…and, He did.

Later in the year, I personally underwent what should have been an achievable surgery with no complications, but, which instead, left me with a serious condition from which only God knows when I will be healed.  We have all prayed for healing and believe that God will in His time.

My Mama, Daddy, husband and I sat in the stands of Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force

Base and watched as our beloved grandsons and sons graduated from what the most grueling experience in their short lives.  We prayed for God's deliverance and success through that BMT experience and He delivered them.

And, friends, these are just a tiny few of the trials experienced this year by my family….a drop in the bucket, a mere glimpse of the heartaches, sorrows, pains, joy-sucking challenges which my family has faced in the short eleven months of 2014.

Truth is, your family has had your own trials, struggles, sorrows and challenges….

We all do

We all will

If you are living, you are facing trials

Whether you want to or not….you are either personally experiencing trials in your own lives or you are watching someone you love take that walk.  I'm not sure which is worse….but, you, we, me are and will continue to have them come….

By definition, a TRIAL is, "the action or process of putting to the proof" meaning that only through trials, only via trials, only by trials will we ever truly know just exactly of what we are capable of handling and what we are not capable of handling…

That maybe, perhaps, God uses our trials to draw us closer to him and further from the world…

And, I think He does

And, here's why I believe that….

I have watched you

I have watched my own family

This year, as we shared with one another in all the various means available….church bulletins, Facebook requests, personal messages, texts, letters, announcements from pulpits….phone calls, prayer seasons,  written articles, news accounts…..

You have laid out there some of your times of being "put to the proof"…..

And, so many times, you were not only put to the proof, but you walked through the fire and came out on the other side with joy

With Thanksgiving

With Peace

I've seen you

Your own personal journey has brought hope to mine

What is the difference between losing your soul to the darkness of this world and giving into grief versus walking through the darkness into the light of hope?

What enables one individual to make it through while another falters?

Is one more worthy?

Are they more loved?

No

I don't think so

What I do find both personally and in my watching of others is that those who are able to journey through their sorrows and trials have a few things in common…

They know they cannot do the journey alone, so they don't;  they invite you in

They are not afraid to seek help, so they do seek help….from you and others

They boldly ask for prayer, because they believe in the power of prayer, so they pray and they ask you to pray, too

They share their needs, even when they are "unspoken" because they know there is power knowledge

They tell the truth of their pain, because the truth sets a person free to find God in our circumstances

I believe the world would keep us pinned down to the point of death with its ability to hurt us…

I do

I see it daily

In my life

And, in yours

But, I believe that we can overcome the world

We can

Because, when God's children take the time to be real, to be authentic, to share…to bare…to be brave

When we chose to love rather than hate; when we chose to lift a hand rather than our voices; when we lay down our anger and replace it with peace

When we become humble

When we become still

When we abandon ourselves to love one another through all times

When we seek God's grace for ourselves and others

When we give

When we grant

When we bless

When we take the time to see into the soul of another

Then, we let go

And, we let God

And, when we let God…..

We open the door to everything

All is possible

All is achievable

Darkness becomes light

Sorrow becomes joy

Trials become the opportunity to be put to "the proof" so that when we face them, we feel them, we live them, we walk through them…

And, in our walking, let's not be alone…

There is a power that is mighty when we walk through our trials in the company of others….

And, with Him….

For, He is the great I Am, I Will, I Can and I Did

Happy Thanksgiving

Blessings,

Lesa

 

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.