Oh... Thank you.

"Here are some of my favorite prayers:
Help! Please. Don't.
Show me. Guide me. Change me.
Are you there?!
Why'd you do that?
Oh...
Thank you.""The Language of Letting Go" by Melody Beattie
Thanks, Beth!


This is something i learned within my first year with Christ and am continuing to learn. The pain in my hands came within the same month that i gained Christ. Next i lost my job, my apartment, my friends and was living in my car... until it was taken.

As a new Christian, i had no idea what to do but to pray, begging for help. Months later He brought me to a family where i could grow in Him and be nurtured. All that pain was necessary to bring me to that place. Since then i have surrendered much more.

Jesus didn't “fix” my life but He walks with me through it. There are no guarantees of perfect health, wealth, relations, comfort ect; yet there is comfort that Jesus was/is familiar with trials. Trials that make us more like Him.
Trials: 1) [peirasmos] meant to fail, usually from Satan
2) [dokimion] reveals value, test from God
(we don't get to know which type of trial happens when)
3) [hypomenes] steadfast endurance
What do we do? Rejoice! Rejoice in the result of trial.

Reactions of human proclivity:
judge God-> repent!
envy other's lives-> covetousness-> repent!
self pity -> become selfish and closed in, pride-> repent!
functional god-> drugs, alcohol, sex, food, ect.-> repent!

Godly Reactions:
Experience Trials-> Feel Grief-> Respond in Rejoicing!
1 Peter 1:6
6In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed (grieved) by various trials, 7so that the proof [dokimion] of your faith,... may be found to result in praise and glory and honor (worship words) at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

James 1:2-3
2Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials [peirasmos], 3knowing that the testing [dokimion] of your faith produces endurance [hypomenes].

10 Reasons to Rejoice:
1) Mercy for our sin,
2) you are Born Again,
3) in the Resurection of Jesus,
4) you have an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled and will not fade,
5) it is reserved in heaven for you,
6) salvation is secure, you are guarded,
7) life is a little while, it's just life nothing big like God, worse -> bad eternity
8) given faith (purified) worth more than gold,
9) God loves you and you love Him,
10) by faith we see, you have not seen Him but you believe in Him.

"It hurts!"
REJOICE!

"I don't see Him."
REJOICE!

"I can't make it."
REJOICE!

"This isn't what i want!"
REJOICE!

"I don't know if i can stick close to Him."
REJOICE!

"It is too hard!"
REJOICE!

"Make it stop!"
REJOICE!
Like a woman in childbirth; so is this life before we see Him.

[Notes from: "Trial and Jesus" Mars Hill Church and "The Cup and the Glory" by Greg Harris]