God is Always Looking to Teach Us Something
Happy Friday guys! How are you all doing? I hope your week went well. So, I have decided that you’d be hearing from me twice a week, on Mondays, and on Fridays. It has been a struggle to balance work and creating quality content. In order not to risk frequent hiatuses, publishing content two times a week, will give me more time to deliver, and not do it from a space of burnout. However, there are quality articles available on this platform and on my personal blog – letstalknationblog.com. So, feel free to always check those out. Let’s get into today’s topic.
It hit me a few days ago, that I was only a few days shy of the one-year anniversary of my surgery. The day I remembered; I was thinking to myself that I no longer had the symptoms which had plagued me for years. My heart was then full of complete gratitude to my God. I remember being anxious before my procedure. And of course, the enemy used that as an opportunity to fill me with fear. Thoughts of dying lingered through my mind. I worried that something could terribly go wrong during the procedure. I wanted to be awake but my doctors advised that it wasn’t the best option for me.
But thank God for the amazing people he blessed me with. One of my friends rallied the rest together and they prayed for me. One of them said, “I just feel as though you are afraid to go in for this surgery.” At that time, I had not opened up to anyone about my fears. I dealt with it alone. I searched scriptures and kept holding on to God’s truth. One of those scriptures was from Psalm 3:5 which says, “I lay down and slept; I woke again for the Lord sustained me.”
It was going to be my second time going under anesthesia; however, I was extremely nervous. And since being awake during the procedure was not an option for me, I had to stand on that scripture, and trust that the fears I felt were not being perpetrated by God. Another key thing I prayed about was that I wanted my recovery process to be quick, and God honored that. Within a week and a half, I was already back at my house, by myself. In fact, my father who came to visit me some days after the surgery, was expecting to see me bed stricken. He was surprised that I was already moving around.
All of this is just to say that God is faithful. There is not one moment in my life that I look back on, and can say confidently that He forsook me, or was never there. God has always been there. In the highs and lows of my life, like when I lost my mother, when a friend betrayed me terribly (you can read about that here), when I got deported, (you can read about that here), when I struggled financially, when I had my surgeries, and so on, God has always been there. It is no surprise that I hold Hebrews 13:5-6 so close to my heart - it is because I have experienced it and keep experiencing it.
This short newsletter is to encourage those who might be struggling with their faith in Christ. Who feel as though God has abandoned them. Listen to what Romans 8:35-36 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” Verse 37 goes on to answer the question: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Thus, just because you are facing a form of hardship doesn’t mean that God is not in the midst of it. Our difficulties and life challenges are never wasted by God. He uses those difficult moments to prune us, discipline us, teach us contentment, urge us to pray more and to depend fully on him (among many others).
2 Corinthians 1:8-9 says, “ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” When we endure under such circumstances then we would be perfect and complete, lacking nothing as James 1:4 says.
It is why Paul remained content, whether he had plentiful or lacked everything. Philippians 4:11 says, “…for I learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Keyword there is, “learned.” God is always looking to teach us something. 1 Timothy 6:6 says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”
And so, don’t allow the enemy to deceive you when you are experiencing some type of difficulty, saying that it is because God has forsaken you. God is ever present; and there is always a purpose for what you are experiencing. This is what my experiences have taught me.
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