Are you going through a time of suffering?
"May grace and perfect peace cascade over you as you live in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him."
2 Peter 1:2-3 TPT
Are you going through a time of suffering and having a hard time seeing where God is in all of it?
The pain that comes with extreme suffering has a way of blinding us. We can be tempted to start viewing God through our experiences instead of viewing our circumstances through who He is.
When we are suffering, it's also a prime time for the enemy to sneak his way in and start whispering small lies in our ears.
You combine that tendency to view God inaccurately with the lies the enemy whispers in our ear, and we are in a position where we start to doubt God.
We stop believing he will act. We stop believing he cares and start thinking he's abandoned us.
It is significantly easier said than done, but when we are in a difficult season where nothing is clear, we must rely on what we know, not what we feel.
As the verse in 2 Peter states, peace washes over us when we abide in the knowledge of who God is.
What's true about God is always true, regardless of how I feel.
Here are a few practical ways to reframe some of your current questions:
God, why aren't you answering me?
Lord, I choose to trust that you will answer me. I want it to be now. But I'm committed to trusting your plan over my own.
Why are you putting me through this?
I'm choosing to believe what you're doing inside me will outweigh the suffering. Only you are capable of making something good from this mess.
God, do you even care?
Lord, your ways are higher than mine, and your thoughts are higher than mine. I don't know or understand all your reasons. But I believe you deeply care about my pain, even if what I see with my own eyes doesn't feel like it.
This week, I challenge you to practice viewing your circumstances through the lens of God's character, and I encourage you to declare what you know to be true about Him, regardless of how you feel.
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