Last week, I shared my story with you, and ended with a promise to give you some tools that have helped me tremendously to deal with, and even overcome much of my grief. I would like to stress, though, that these tools are applicable in all circumstances of life. No matter where you are in life, or in the process of grieving, there are various ways in which you can recognize God and His footprints. I have no doubt that if you adopt and implement these thoughts, the chains of guilt, heaviness, and sorrow will be loosened around your heart.
Photo credit: DeeAshley via photopin ccFor nine, long years, I believed that God allowed my mother, sister, and nephew to be killed. His will had been done. His ways accomplished. Now, that may sound as though I had it all together, and that my faith was where it should have been. But you see, there was another side to that coin that lay beneath the surface.
The way I saw it, was that God, in His Sovereignty, ordained the end of my family members’ lives, but it was ME who had to clean up the mess, and deal with the consequences and pain. It was I who was left to pick up the pieces of God’s will, so to speak.
Do I sound as though I was bitter towards Him?
Yes, I probably was! 🙁
BUT, one day the light went on in my mind, and I realized something amazing that left me stunned! My friend, God does not work in a vacuum! He doesn’t whirl into your life, as the tornado did in Oklahoma, cause destruction, and then vanish off about His daily business, leaving you behind in His wake to reap the devastating effects of tragedy.
No. God is not that way at all.
The God of the Bible did allow tragedy and trial into my life, and yours (James 1:2).
The eternal God of creation did ordain for that occurrence into your life for reasons that are beyond your understanding.
But He also intended fully, purposefully, and somehow even graciously for you to have to live with the scar all the rest of the days of your life. And believe it or not, that’s a good thing (Psalm 34:18).
It may sound cruel, but it’s not when you think of how perfect God is, and how His ways are so much higher than yours (Isaiah 55:8-9).
In order to be most greatly glorified, the Lord meant that the “you” with the pain, grief, sadness, and sorrow would be
Than the “you” without having gone through your loss.
In God’s inerrant summation, He knew before the Heavens and the Earth were created, that you would glorify Him more being alive with the hurt, than being alive without it.
The King of Heaven and Earth knew that you would be stronger and more equipped to face everything else that He ordained for your life with the heartache, than without it.
And with tears in my eyes, I assure you that He perfectly, thoroughly and wholly equipped you, my beloved friend, to be able to handle the event that He would allow into your life.
There is another facet that you may have missed, and that is that you are special! You are special because God found you worthy and capable of handling what you went through. He wouldn’t just have given that privilege to anyone. He chose to allow it into your life, beloved, because He knew that out of all people, you would be the one who would most glorify His Name on this Earth if you went through that event. You may or may not have used your grief in this way as yet, but He intends you to, and will make a way for you too as you seek Him. (Isaiah 48:11)
———————–
I have been where you are. I have endured it all. If I hadn’t, I would have no standing to pronounce these words to you.
Yes, God carried out His plan for my mother, sister and nephew. March 8th, 2000 came and went. And it may have seemed like the worst day of my life at the time.
But here I stand, 13 years later, and I can tell you with confidence and assurance, that that was the day…
That I truly started to grow in the Lord.
That was the day that glorifying God would take on a whole new meaning.
That was the day that all that God had prepared and equipped me to face, was brought out of the storehouses of my soul, and with God’s righteous and merciful right Hand, He used it to carry and sustain me.
March 8th, 2000, was the first day of the rest of my life.
Read the next post in this Grief Series titled, “Can You Really Trust God?”, here.
God knew that you would glorify Him more with your hurt than without it (<–Click to Tweet)
God perfectly equipped you to be able to handle the event that He would allow into your life (<– Click to Tweet)
Your trial is the beginning of new growth in the Lord (<– Click to Tweet)
Do any of these thoughts resonate with you? How would these concepts change the way you perceive your trial or grief?
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Such a beautiful encouraging post. I've had three friends who have buried their spouses and gone on to raise their children alone. Only they aren't alone. God has been so faithful to bring them through!
Thanks for linking up to "Making Your Home Sing Monday" today!
Great post, Tehila.
I think when we really understand God's love for us, his sovereignty, his power, his wisdom, his holiness, his greatness - then we can get to the point where we see even the tragedies in our lives as gifts from him.
Thank you so much for linking up at my "Best Of The Weekend" party. :) I am adding this in to wrap up my features which will post in an hour or so and talking about your eBook. :)
xoxo, Claire
It would not even be possible for me to express all the ways this spoke to me. Truly a message I needed right now! Thank you!
Thank you, Kasey. What a blessing to hear... xxx
You give such great nuggets of wisdom in this post. Although I have a hectic life right now, I am fortunate not to be experiencing grief or any "real" trials. But when I come against them, I just remind myself that they are necessary to get to the next level and I power through them looking for the lesson the entire time. I'm a huge believer that every test is meant to teach us a lesson and the sooner we pass the test, the sooner we can move on.
I like the way you are talking directly to me. All that you say is true and applies to my situation though no life was lost. Those years (for my situation) were ones that drew me closer to the Lord. Thank you for reminding me that it is within God's purpose and plan for my life and not something He wanted to do to harm me.
Thanks for sharing this post over at WholeHearted Home, sweet friend.
Thanks for sharing at "Tell Me a Story." You have given us a lot to consider. Adam and Eve might be to blame for all our troubles, but God will turn them around and bring us comfort. Due to the curse placed on this earth, we have an enemy who is the destroyer, thief, murderer and liar. He would try to convince us that God is our enemy when in truth it is the old devil. God is so gracious to use pain to bring us closer to him and works things out to bring glory to him.
Insightful and Inspriring. The problems and hurts will be there..but we always have to TRUST in God. The Lord is present in every trials we go through. Being a Godly wife, I am not perfect myself. During times of pain and doubts, I often ask myself, "Why do the righteous suffer?" And then I remembered Christ and some people who made it through. I answered my own question! "Why not?" They are the ones (like JC) who can take it."
I can do ALL things through Christ. -Philippians 4:13
Visiting you from the Happy Wives Club Link Up.
I can't even begin to imagine, but your faith is truly and inspiration. I think your story explains quite well how a Christian should respond. I am glad I found your blog, and I will be following you. I found you through the You Like Me blog hop. If you want to visit my blog, be my guest!
WoW! I'm so glad we found your blog!! Thanks for linking up with us at One Sharendipity Place this weekend!
Sue @thet2women.com