Life Hurts ~ God Heals ~ Recycling My Pain

This is the last of the “Life Hurts ~ God Heals Recovery Series.” I am sorry it has taken me so long to get the last one out to you. I do pray you have been blessed and helped by what you have read.

R.E.C.O. V. E. R. Y

“I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I created the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near, Says the Lord, And I will heal him” (Isaiah 57:18-19).

No matter how we behave, God WANTS to heal us. He wants to use our experiences to help heal other people. He will use your pain to help others too.

Part One ~ “R” Realize we are not God…

Part Two ~ “E” Earnestly believe that God exists…

Part Three ~ “C”  Consciously choose to commit all our life and will to Christ’s care and control.

Part Four ~ “O”  Openly examine and confess our faults to ourselves, to God, and to someone we trust.

Part Five ~ “V“ Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in our lives and humbly ask Him to remove our character defect.

Part Six ~ “E” Evaluate all my relationships and offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others except when to do so would harm them or others.

Part Seven ~ “R“ Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for your life and gain the power to do it.

Part Eight ~ “Y” Yield myself to God to be used to bring the Good News to others by both my example and my words.

WHY GOD ALLOWED MY PAIN IN THE FIRST PLACE …

1) He gives us a free will ~ We all either help or hurt others. “Behold, I set before you today a blessings and a curse; the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I commanded you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but then turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known” (Deut. 11:26-28)

2) To get our attention ~ God uses it to wake us up. Pain should be an alarm in our life.  “Blows that hurt cleanse evil away, as do stripes the inner depths of the heart” (Proverbs 20:30).  “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance” (2 Cor. 7:9).

3) To teach me to depend on Him ~ “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:71). “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, in whom we trust that He will still deliver us…” (1 Cor. 1:9-10).

4) To give us a ministry to others ~ “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (1 Cor. 1:4).

God NEVER wastes a hurt. Being someone He can use is NOT being perfect! In our weakness, He is strong.

HOW TO USE MY PAIN TO HELP OTHERS…

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear…” (1 Peter 3:15).

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).

Openly and honestly share your testimony with others just like someone has shared theirs with you during tribulation.

We cannot get out of our pain without the help of others.

No high points are possible without the low points. Share one high point and one low point.

We are all in need of recovery one way or another. God wants to recycle our pain.

Are you willing to share and help others?

Just be humble, be honest, be real and don’t lecture, just be a witness.

Seeing God’s Purpose in My Problems

Seeing through God’s eyes ~ Part 3

How do you respond to problems? Do you look to God or to someone else? Do you whine and complain? Do you blame God? How do you see your problems?

God has a purpose for our problems. We just don’t understand where they come from…us, government, marriage, circumstances, etc. God uses our problems to bring good into our life, to prepare us, not punish us, and for His glory.

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy (1 Peter 4:12-13).

1) God uses our problems to direct us…Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways (Proverbs 20:30 GN)

Sometimes God has to take us on a detour because we are heading in the wrong direction. Do you obey or do you go your own way?

A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps (Proverbs 16:9).

It’s like planning a vacation,…the direction you will go…then you run into a detour. What is your first reaction? Thank You Lord or Oh man?

God uses our problems to bring us back to Him. When we are low is when we usually turn to Him. So, when you see the detour sign, be wise, follow where He leads and change your direction.

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner… (1 Cor. 7:9)

In the midst of your problem, ask God where this problem is leading you?

2) God uses problems to inspect us…I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings (Jeremiah 17:10).

We are usually satisfied with what “looks good.” Like the pink slime hamburger and many other products in our grocery stores…it “looks” good, but is not good for us.  All the ways of man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit (Proverbs 16:2).

We are like tea bags, we have to be put into hot water to see what is inside. And sometimes God puts the squeeze on us like we squeeze fruit to inspect it. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver, I have tested you in the furnace of affliction (proverbs 48:10).

And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not (Deut. 8:2).

How do you respond when problems come? Do you feel like giving up when you don’t get your way? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what this problem reveals about you.

3) God uses problems to protect us…Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wing you shall take refuge, His truth shall be your shield and buckler (Psalm 91:3-4).

Shepherds sometimes have to break the leg of a sheep to protect it and keep it safe from things it does not see or understand.

What looks to be suffering can be our protection  ~ our salvation. Have faith and trust God in the midst of your problems. It is His specialty to make good out of evil. But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive (Genesis 50:20).

A man’s step are of the Lord, How then can a man understand his own way (Proverbs 20:24)?

Ask God how this problem is protecting you and how you can trust Him through it. Ask Him to help you see yourself, others, and your problems from His perspective. Only He can bring good out of bad.

Ask God to help you see your problems through His eyes.