A New Appreciation

When is the last time that you gave thanks for a hurt that came into your life? In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 it is written "Give thanks in everything". Even in Job we find that it didn't seem to matter what calamity entered into his life, Job refused to do anything but give praise where praise was due.

Although I've never had to (nor do I ask to) endure the events of Job's life, recently I did run into a situation in which my feelings were hurt. Pain being pain and God being God it quickly became obvious that I needed to call upon the Lord to make this a Romans 8:28 event. Although I held myself together well enough to get through the class I was in, as soon as the final prayer was prayed I bee lined it out of there so that I could do what comes naturally to me . . . cry.

Over the years I remember hearing it said that God loves us to much to leave us where we're at and to that I say . . . THANK YOU LORD!!! Almost immediately I could sense that He provided Himself as the answer to my pain so without any hesitation I turned to Him for wisdom and insight.

As He worked me through the pain He helped me to realize that the old Bonnie would have harbored resentment, developed animosity and proudly worn a chip on my shoulder like a peacock pluming out his feathers . . . but not this time. This time was different because He helped me to see that in order for me to be all that He made me to be I really needed to endure this pain.
~ The pain enabled me to realize that there was dross that needed to be burned off. This 'gem' needed to be refined and that process meant that I had to go through the 'fire' of this pain.
~ The pain enabled me to realize that over the course of many years I had believed lies . . . like, you are the way you are and you can't change,/ you won't change, / you don't need to change. I developed a hardness in my heart which housed a judgmental spirit and although I should have known better, it took this pain to see the truth.

Thanks to Christ in me (my hope of glory!) the new Bonnie is eager to grow. How thankful I am that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, I have the courage to address the issue with the person who hurt my feelings. (Now that's what I call real growth!) No baggage - HALLELUJAH - THANK YOU LORD!!

A training note . . . I'm sure that as I step out in faith and allow the Lord to stretch and grow me, I will mess up again from time to time. In that regard, I give thanks for I now know the love and encouragement that I can count on from those who the Lord has put around me.

Lord Jesus, may glory come to You through the feeble efforts of this humble and precious 'gem'.
I love you Lord.
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