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Looking For A Purpose!

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Corinthians 4:17

Jesus said we'd have problems (John 16:33). Nobody gets a free pass. Solve one problem and another's waiting to take its place. They're not all big, but they're all necessary to your spiritual growth! How do you measure the strength of anything? By testing it! Listen: "don't be shocked that you are going through testing - It will prepare you" (1 Peter 4:12-13). The Psalmist wrote: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted" (Psalm 34:18). Your most life-changing experiences will often come during your darkest days - when your heart's broken, you feel abandoned, you're out of options, your pain levels are through the roof - and you turn to God. That's when you learn to pray heart-felt, honest-to-God prayers. When you're in pain you don't have the energy for superficial ones. God could have kept Joseph out of jail, Daniel out of the lions' den, Jeremiah out of the slimy pit and Paul from being shipwrecked, but He didn't. And the result? Every one of them was drawn closer to God - and impacted their world! Our problems force us to look to God and depend on Him, instead of ourselves. This is especially hard on super-achievers like Paul. Listen: "We saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, Who alone could save us" (2 Corinthians 1:9). You'll never know that God's all you need until God's all you've got! So today, place all your needs into His capable, loving hands, and watch what happens.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, I know that any hardship that I go through - there is a reason - and with you it is always a way to make me better and prepare me for what is ahead. Help me trust you in this. In Jesus' Name, Amen