Traveling Through Trials

Life is a physical journey which takes us from birth until death.  During our time on earth we also go through a mental and spiritual journey.  I am body, mind, and spirit.  All three have aged.  Education, study, and life experiences have grown my mind.  Intellect, wisdom, and control of our emotions come with learning and mental maturity.   Our bodies change as we journey through each stage of life.  I am grateful to have seen 71 years.  My spirit, the essence of who I am, resides within my physical body.  It also grows and changes over the years.  Dependent infants or young children have very self centered awareness’s of their own needs.  Children have to be taught to behave and to be aware of the needs of others.  Their spirit broadens from self to include being aware of the needs and feelings of Mom, Dad, siblings, and other people in their lives.

Do we have to work at growing healthy bodies, minds, and spirits?  Most of us know about the things which we should strive to do to keep our bodies and minds strong and healthy.  We seem to be less aware of taking care of our internal spirits; of our character and of who we are on the inside.   Life and age should make us increasingly aware of whom we are in relationship to others and to God, our creator.  God is interested in our total being but He is most interested in growing us from the inside out rather than the other way around. 

Our physical looks and attributes are genetic.  Our internal spirit develops and grows as we live life.  Good and bad circumstances effect our spiritual development.  When we encounter kind loving and caring people in our lives it is easier to be kind and loving.  Hateful, uncaring, and hurtful or detached relationships can result in the development of poor self images, unforgiving hearts, and angry depressed spirits. 

Believing in the One True God, or choosing not to believe in God, develops who we are or who we become on the inside.  God has a purpose for each of our lives.  Many times, the only time we come to seek, accept, and understand what He wants for us is when we face disappointments, losses, or trials in our lives.  We ask ourselves and God, “What is life all about?”  Now that He has our attention, He can begin to convict and grow our spirit because now we are listening.  Refusing to believe prevents God from teaching us because He cannot give His Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit to an unbelieving spirit, a closed heart.  He convicts ones heart.  Then the convicted spirit can choose to accept God and believe, or not.  The person has the free will to refuse God’s invitation and continue life being directed by his or her own natural spirit.  But, God will not stop knocking on the door to our hearts and spirits.  He wants us to abide in Him and Him in us so He can grow and guide us by His Spirit for His purpose and His abundance in our lives.    

It was during the months and years after the death of my daughters, Elisa and Carrie, that God’s Spirit came to my spirit powerfully.  I had always known God and was a believer but now I felt His presence.  The Holy Spirit’s Gifts of the Spirit began to grow within my spirit.  In James 1: 2 and 3 I read that the testing of my faith develops perseverance so that God can finish His work.  He can mature and complete my faith.  In Hebrews 12: 10 and 11, 1 Peter 4: 15 and 16, James 1: 4, and 2 Corinthians 12: 7, God tells us that the trials we face are ultimately for our good.   This is hard to see while one is in the middle of the trial or storm.  This is where faith and hanging in there, endurance, makes the difference in our ultimate spiritual growth or lack there of.  As a believer, when I am weak God is strong within me.   Trials do not have to steal my joy.  They bring the power of God to me and my weakness opens the flow of God’s strength into me. 

I know, because the Word tells me, that God allows trials, suffering, and pain to come into our lives.  God’s own Son, Jesus, experienced suffering.  God sent Him to suffer for each of us.  How can we expect to go through life without some kind of suffering?  It is in our suffering that we find a deeper walk with the Savior.  Our spirit decreases and His Spirit increases within us.  This is how our spirit grows.  Jesus gave us His Holy Spirit when He went back to The Father.  He teaches us through His sufferings.  He walks with us in and through our own earthly sufferings.  He understands.  We are never walking through our valleys alone.  He travels our trials with us.  In our sufferings we endure, we keep on, we learn, we grow, and we meet the Lord in a deeper dimension.  He fills our spirit with His Holy Spirit.  The Bible tells us that we come through it as gold and now glorify God in our lives.  Our spirit has been more perfected and now it reflects Him. 

As an Oncology Nurse, I took care of patients in many stages of suffering.  I experienced the positive responses of patients and families as I shared the words from Romans 8: 17 with them.  Romans 8 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  Spirits were lifted when I pointed out the verse in God’s Word telling us that if we share in Christ’s suffering we will also share in His Glory.  In verses 17 and 18 Paul writes, “if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together; For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”.  What a wonderful promise!

I want my spirit to grow in Christ.  I pray that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will be glorified in my life.