How do you react when you are faced with some type of trouble? What is your reaction to a medical issue? How do you feel when someone shuns you? Do you get depressed when facing financial difficulties? Have you ever thought your troubles are molding you?
Any type of trouble we face causes a reaction of some sort. We might call those troubles afflictions. They can cause us to be angry, depressed, frustrated, hurt, stressed, and even wonder why we exist at all, depending on the trouble we are facing.
But those afflictions may be molding us, refining us into the person God wants us to be. Now, make no mistake, God does not send the troubles our way, but he does use them to make us a better person, if we are willing. Those afflictions will produce in us an endurance. Not the endurance of a long-distance runner, but an endurance that allows us to remain standing throughout the situation.
Endurance builds and strengthens our character. Some of the strongest characters ever built lived through the great depression. That strong character then gives us hope. We discover that with God we can withstand anything. We carry that hope into every situation. The stronger our character, the deeper our hope. And that hope is the belief and trust in God’s promises. Through all of it, we witness the love God has for us as he provides for our needs.
I pray we all view our afflictions differently. I pray we endure our hardships and our character is strengthened. I pray each one of us have a deep hope in God and always trust in his promises. Endure your hardships. Allow God to build your character. Put your hope in God. Trust God’s promises.
Romans 5:3-5 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction 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 that has been given to us.
Marty Pressey 