__________ is driving me crazy! Go ahead, fill in the blank. At one time or another we’ve all had something that literally threatened to drive us to the brink of complete desperation. Perhaps it’s a spouse, a job, an employee, a divorce, a child spiraling downward into danger, financial ruin, reoccurring health issues, or legal injustice. Maybe it’s just an incurable loneliness. The list could go on and on. The point is that this is life and we all face disappointments. If you live any time at all, at times you will face what seem to be insurmountable obstacles to overcome.
I had a mother say to me just the other day that her daughter thought God was against her because the circumstances of her life weren’t working out the way she wanted. Through her tears, the mother expressed to me that she was concerned because she didn’t want her daughter to think that God worked that way. I have news for that mother. That’s exactly how God works. It’s those times of extreme disappointment and despair that take us out of our comfort zones and expose the areas within ourselves that need to be dealt with in order for us to grow emotionally and spiritually. You know the old saying that everything happens for a reason? It’s true. The reason those things happen are to teach us something - very often about ourselves.
I don’t believe these times happen just to drive us to despair. However, they do happen in order to drive us somewhere. Where it drives you is up to you. In 2 Corinthians 7:10 the apostle Paul is talking to the church in Corinth about a letter he had written to them that had distressed and upset them greatly. Later, after everything was resolved between them he said… “Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets; end up on a deathbed of regrets.” (The Message)
As Paul continues, we see in verse 11 what distress can produce when we embrace the lesson. “You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart”. I learned a long time ago that God is far more concerned with our character than He is with our comfort, and let’s face it - it’s in the hard times that our character is truly revealed, both to ourselves and to others. Life is a process of maturity that will never happen as long as we live with an attitude of entitlement, always expecting others (including God) to serve us.
If you’ve read my book, you know I’m a poster-child for letting pain and disappointment drive me to such frustration and despair that there were a couple of times that I almost took my own life. It wasn’t until I finally came to the end of myself and let the pain drive me to a place of peace and surrender in God that the circumstances began changing. I think my life was a lot like repeating the same grade in school over and over. The teacher wouldn’t let me move on until I learned the lessons that were mine to learn. When I did, the same repeated circumstances that always led to the same point of frustration stopped “happening”. You see, these things weren’t just happening to me, I was choosing the same behavior over and over, expecting different results.
That mother I mentioned earlier has a heart that only wants the very best for her daughter, so that mother’s heart bleeds for her. You know what? There’s someone who bled for you too, and wants nothing more than the very best for your life. He wants to lead you into health. He wants you to know peace and joy and fulfillment, but this is a two-sided deal. If you reach out to Him, you will find Him waiting. All the work was already done by Him at Calvary. There’s nothing to earn, no hoops to jump through, no set of regulations to be achieved to find Him, no official church blessing necessary. He’s really that accessible. Just open your heart and ask Him to meet you.
So, I guess the question here is where are the disappointments and circumstances of your life going to drive you….to Him or away from Him? The choice is yours. The results of those choices will also be yours. I hope you choose growth.
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