“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you may participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and God rests on you” (1 Peter 4:12-14).
If you’ve felt dismayed, overwhelmed, and perplexed at the intensity of the battle as of lately, know that God has you in His grip and that you’re not going under! Though the fire may seem seven times hotter, He is there with you and He is preserving you. His plans and purposes for your life and future will surely come about. These testings and trials are actually making you stronger and molding you into all he desires you to be. Even as a diamond must undergo intense pressure and heat to be formed, so it is with us. Through this intensity and pain, something beautiful and precious is being formed. Yield to the process.
There is great purpose in the pain. He is training an preparing us for something greater and bigger than ourselves. Don’t lose heart! He loves you, and is working all things together for his good. He makes beautiful things out of the dust!
“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge” (Psalm 144 1-2).