Impossible Things!

By Susan Nichols, Fellowship Bible Church CR Devotional Team 10/24/2018

I don’t know where I got the idea that once I gave my life to Christ my problems would disappear.  Certainly, no one ever taught me that.  Maybe it’s because I felt so good and so relieved about finding the love and acceptance I’d been looking for.  Regardless, throughout the years it’s been an issue that I’ve had to deal with repeatedly before God, even when I’m 100% sure I’m smack dab in the middle of His will.  Maybe you’ve felt like that before?






“Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, 
as if something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12, NLT)
Let me be specific here.  I recently returned to school to finish my college degree.  I prayed, talked with my husband, and waited for confirmation from the Lord.  Everything lined up and I was so excited to start.  One month into the semester, however, I was falling apart emotionally and spiritually.  I was overwhelmed, and nothing was going well.  I had an F in every class, and I have never been an F student.  I couldn’t retain any information and lectures were a nightmare.  Once again, I was surprised at the fiery trials I experienced daily.  I mean, didn’t I so clearly know I was doing what He wanted me to be doing?  John 16:33 says,
 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."
You and I have never been guaranteed a smooth ride through life.  Quite the opposite!  There will always be things we need to learn.  The bumps and bruises make us who we are and there are so many reasons He allows us to experience trials.
"He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”  (Deut. 8:3)
Jeremiah 29 reassures us that He only wants the best for us:
“For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. 
"They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Maybe His idea of what’s good for us is different than our own.  Or maybe ‘good’ to us really means ‘easy.’  Beloved, be encouraged that God is aware of every single detail of our lives.  He knows our most intimate secrets and loves us.  Everything He does, He does with purpose.  Continue to hope and trust in Him daily, especially when life seems impossible!
Dear Lord,
Please forgive me for questioning you.  I know that you only want what’s best for me.  Help me to persevere when trials come.  Help me to not be surprised, but to remember that you are in control and will help me take life one day, one step at time!    ~Amen
Click HERE to listen to "Impossible Things" by Chris Tomlin

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