“It seems odd, but usually our greatest trial is what molds and shapes us.  It gives us character, backbone, courage, wisdom, discernment, and friendships that are not shallow.”  ~Randy Alcorn in If God is Good

Trials come to all of us.  There’s your every day, garden-variety trial – not enough money at the end of the month, an afternoon headache, an irritating person, a job you don’t like.

Then there are what we might consider larger trials – the loss of a loved one, facing a chronic illness, a child who’s away from the Lord, a job loss.

Yet I’ve found that it truly is through our trials that we grow the most, that we find ourselves becoming more conformed to His image.  When my husband had back surgery last year, I learned more about prayer and trusting God than I had in a long time.  Losing our first child due to anencephaly taught me amazing lessons about God’s goodness, His grace, His peace, His perfect timing, and His love and care for me.

I love the phrase Alcorn uses – “friendships that are not shallow.”  Whether it’s family members or friends or church members, once they’ve walked with you through a deep valley, the relationship is forever sweeter and closer.

In the same book I mentioned above, Alcorn says, “God never wastes our pain.”  Whether that’s physical or emotional pain, I believe that there’s always a purpose to it.  Even when we can’t see it, He is always, always working for our good and His glory

So whatever trials you and I are facing today, I pray that we will recognize that God is developing in us those traits that will make us more like His Son and that, by His grace, we can come through our trial a stronger, more trusting Christian.

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Midst the twinkle of the Christmas lights,
Under the pile of presents,
Reflected in the silver of the baking sheets
Filled with cookies shaped like stars,
Do we see Jesus?

In the Christmas cards from family and friends,
In the carols playing loudly on the radio,
Behind the tree full of ornaments and tinsel,
Do we see Jesus?

In the wreath on the door, the candles flickering on the table,
The nativity set so nicely arranged;
In the “stockings hung by the chimney with care,”
Do we see Jesus?

At the office holiday party, the neighborhood buffet,
At the church musical, the school luncheon,
In the line at the post office, in the crowds at the mall,
Do we see Jesus?

In the Christmas books we read to our children,
In the cold and starry night sky,
In the faces of family gathered together
Celebrating the season of joy,
Do we see Jesus?

Let me not miss seeing Jesus this Christmas.

Elisabeth Elliot said these words: “This hard place in which you perhaps find
yourself is the very place in which God is giving you the opportunity to
look only to Him, to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering,
gentleness, meekness- in short, to learn the depths of love that Christ
Himself has poured out on all of us.”

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God gives trials to each of us in His will and in His time.  Mine won’t look like yours; yours won’t look like mine.

I have a sweet friend, only 34 years old, mother to a precious young daughter, who is fighting breast cancer.  God is giving her grace.  Another friend is recovering from a fairly serious car accident, one that wasn’t her fault, but has left her with residual pain and a long period of healing.  Others I know face financial difficulties, family separations due to work obligations, a child with ongoing health needs.

I Peter 1:7 tells us “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

These trials that God brings into our lives can, if we allow them, help us see our need of Him, teach us to rely on Him, make us more like Him, and bring Him glory.  It’s not natural or easy, but surrendering to His will and trusting His goodness can bring this about in our lives.

As this verse from the old hymn “How Firm a Foundation” reminds us,

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”

Whatever trial you and I find ourselves facing today, may we realize the depth of His love, access His grace, and draw close to Him through prayer and His Word

Sometimes I win, sometimes it does.

On a recent Saturday, it did.

I let it get the better of me.

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When I got home and realized I didn’t have it, I called customer service.  “Just come back in with your receipt and we’ll give you another one,” she said.

Oh, fun.  A trip back to the store when I’d been out all afternoon and I just wanted to stay home and start supper.

The girls saw me leave the house and they knew.

Though I was polite to the apologetic customer service lady, I could have been more gracious.

Where was my focus?  On myself and how I was inconvenienced.

I was frustrated.  Frustrated with the cashier, with the bagger, with having to give up my time to drive all the way back to the store.  (In reality, about twenty minutes round trip.)

Frustration won that day.

And, as is often the case, it centered around pride and selfishness.

Proverbs 14:17a says, “He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly.”  Proverbs 14:29 exhorts us, “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.”  And Ecclesiastes 7:9 reads, “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.”

Ultimately I get frustrated – and then angry – because my expectations aren’t met or because an inconvenient interruption arises.   

Yet with God’s help, I can get victory over my frustration.  I certainly don’t want to be classified with the foolish, nor do I want to set a poor example before my children in how I handle those inconveniences.  Instead I need to model kindness and grace even when things don’t go according to plan.

It tried to creep in yesterday, but I recognized it.  I took a small step toward conquering that enemy of frustration.


Have you dealt with frustration lately?