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-2 Corinthians 4:17-

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Many of us are familiar with the story of Job. Where God permits Satan to temporarily challenge Job's life to assess his faith.

When I was going through my hardest valley yet, Job’s struggle spoke to my life in times of desperation and heartache. 

I’ve read the story of Job many times and I understood what it was about but it never spoke to my life the way it did after my uncle's death. One of life’s toughest battles I had to face was the grief that came with his death and the feeling of regret.  

One day, seeking to understand why God allowed me to go through this suffering, I opened my Bible and read the story of Job. God spoke to me through his story. 

Just like Jesus healed the blind man, I too could now see, and could say “I was blind but now I see”

-John 9:25 says-

“He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!””

I came to understand something; that I would never understand God's plan but I do know that His plan is perfect!

For so long I had pushed God away because I didn’t understand. I dwelled in the hurt that I was feeling. My thoughts would go to the unthinkable. I was digging myself into a deep depression. I was allowing my flesh to take control, giving Satan a door to come and keep me down and dig my grave!  That’s why it’s so important to have a strong foundation in God and to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. 

-Romans 8:5-6 says-

“5. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”

God allows us to go through valleys and hard processes. It may be to test our faith or it may be to help us grow. I don't know if you’ve noticed but sometimes we fail to come out of certain valleys with new wisdom from God because in that process we fail to seek Him. 

To seek God would be to live in the Spirit. Allowing our fears and worries to take over our minds is to live in our flesh. We are often like Job when he spoke out of misery and wished he had never been born. Naturally, we tend to question God or draw back from him, sometimes we might even go as far as cursing Him because He is allowing us to go through certain valleys and we can’t see past our hurt.

When we start to believe Satan's lies, we open a door and allow him to start feeding us more and more lies. We start to dwell in those lies and we dig ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole we can no longer get out of on our own, all because we didn’t hold on to the only truth, which is God's Word! 

When we focus on the process and not on God's promises for our life we give the process too much power. We are God’s children, we should never forget that. The devil can’t touch us unless he gets permission from God Himself! God's words are His promises to us. 

-Romans 8:28 says-

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”

We are humans, and we have feelings. We get upset, we cry and we will hurt but in that hurt, seek the meaning of why God is allowing you to go through this. Ask God to reveal the meaning of the process to you, run to the word of God !

-Isaiah 55:11 says-

So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Our heart should always desire to be close to our Father to better ourselves and understand His word, to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit . We should glorify His name during the hurt. Thank him while your heart aches. Why? Because we trust that what His word says is true. If you are a child of God you believe with me that this is true. When we doubt, we are questioning God's word. As if saying that He has failed us or He has let you down. 

How many of us parents become angry when our kids question us? I know I do. We fail all the time! Yet we still get upset at the fact that our children question us or doubt our word. God is not like us, He doesn’t lie.

Believing God's word is not just the belief that it exists or that it can work if you apply it to your life. Believing in God's word is to live in the word of God despite the circumstances or your feelings. 

It is a decision and choice we make, that even if I don’t see Him, I believe in Him. I can’t always comprehend what’s happening or why it’s happening, but I can choose to walk by faith, believing that God's word will come to pass over my life and believing that God's plan is greater than mine! Once we grasp the importance of His word it should be our daily bread. We must consume it to actively grow in our relationship with God. Everything will make sense even when it doesn’t make sense! Though God doesn’t promise that we won’t go through difficult situations in this world, He does promise that everything we go through here on earth has greater reward in eternity!