Ok, I’ll simply say, stuff happens. Right? And at times, the stuff is much harder to handle than other times. It’s true for me and it’s true for you, too.

Everyone’s life has ups and downs, highs and lows, good times and not so good times. Sometimes the lows seem to linger and linger and linger; in those times it’s easy to get fed up and sick of it all.

John Maxwell once said, “It’s not what happens to me; it’s what happens in me. It’s not the outward pressure, it’s the inward response. I cannot always choose what’s going to happen to me, but I always can choose what’s going to happen in me.”

Trials From God?

There are those who say that when stuff happens, somehow God had a hand in it. God has a reason for why you are suffering; God is testing your faith; God is getting you ready for bigger and better things. In other words, some people think God Almighty is orchestrating every single thing that happens.

I personally don’t buy into that because God gave us free will to choose. If God is orchestrating everything, and it’s all predetermined, then it really doesn’t matter what we do; it was all supposed to happen anyway. I don’t think so.

Here’s an example of that kind of thinking I have heard a number of times over the years. Someone gets into a car accident, and ends up in the hospital. While recovering, the injured person shares the good news of the Gospel to a nurse, who in turn, believes and gets saved. Conclusion? God’s purpose was to get the driver of that car to the nurse to get her saved.

Really?

God Almighty decided to put you into a car accident, where you sustain injuries and need hospitalization, all so you could help a nurse get saved? The Creator is that limited, and that abusive? And we, His dear children, call Him Father?

Rarely it seems do you hear someone with a different perspective: God is not going around causing hurt and pain so He can get His purpose fulfilled. But, when stuff happens, like a good Father, He so many times provides help and deliverance; He makes lemonade out of lemons.

There are times when we find ourselves dealing with stuff because of our own wrong decisions. Other times it is outside of our control due to the decisions of others. But regardless, God can help us.

Doesn’t that sound like the actions of a loving Father as opposed to the actions of someone causing hurt and pain for His purposes? But sadly, so many people, when they are dealing with stuff, say, “I wonder what God is trying to teach me by this trial?”

Sickness, death, pain, evil, and all the rest of the stuff do not come from the One True God! Jesus said the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus was certainly not referring to His heavenly Father when he said that, and therefore we should not blame all the stuff on God either.

Until Christ returns, we will all face stuff from time to time, and sometimes more difficult than other times. Let’s not blame God, but rather seek His help. Our thoughts on the inside when something is happening on the outside play a major part in overcoming the stuff.

Mike Verdicchio
2014

I am very happy to announce the CD, Healing Words is now available digitally on iTunes!  Click Here!

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