Have you ever had a moment when the light bulb goes on and suddenly everything about a circumstance starts to piece together. The things which were so hard for me to digest suddenly Grace is flowing through me and it doesn't make sense.
I had a few Ah Ha moments this week where tests and challenges that I am walking seemed they were going to bury me alive but that moment when the Holy Spirit drops truth in your circumstance and the light shines on the dark places and takes authority.
James 1:2-4-Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
I can think of so many times when I am in a test or a challenge and think I have to get out of this as fast as I can. My nickname used to be the "runner" and I have to take that thing captive all the time in my life so that I don't miss out on what God is trying to show me. Often times those tests are what takes us to the next part of the book and if we don't read the entire chapter we miss something crucial. Eventually, you will have to go back over that chapter until you get what it was that you missed.
I am challenging myself to not run from the tests but to endure them with patience and to trust my Heavenly Father to hold me steady while all the cracks are repaired and my foundation is steady for the next part of the journey. I use to think tests were a sick punishment from God because I was never gonna pass them and I was stuck walking through the same pain over and over.
What I have learned and am still learning is tests are a must when it comes to spiritual growth in ones life. It's the pruning of our trees that is required for healthy fruit. Our flesh would love to say it hurts, its not fair, and run because it's too painful but the spirit of God calls us to patience, endurance and self-control. Not so that we can die in the process but so that we can live not deprived of anything and to His Glory and Purpose in our lives.
Lord you are the reason I can even stand and breathe everyday. Your Grace and Mercy in my life helps weed out the carnality of my flesh and replaces it with the Spirit of God flowing through me. I trust you to take me through each test and purify me so that I am not deficient in any way but full of you Spirit and walking in love.
