IT'S ONLY A TEST

Stay alert! Watch out for your great

enemy, the devil. He prowls around

like a roaring lion, looking for

someone to devour. -- 1 Peter 5:8, NLT

This earth is not our home. It is more like a classroom where those who are in Christ and have accepted His gift of salvation are being refined, perfected, and molded into His image. The trials God allows build endurance, develop character, strengthen our spiritual muscles, and serve as a measure of our progress as we journey through life. 

My dying friend and her husband are shining examples of what it means to trust in God without wavering. His love shines through them even in the midst of their affliction, and their testimony has ministered to and encouraged me as well as many others. 

My friend's husband just sent out an update to let us know that she had been moved to an inpatient hospice facility. It included a beautiful tribute to her, as well as an account of how he had been able to witness to several people at the facility she was being transferred from about the goodness of God in the midst of the unexplainable. 

He likened their cancer experience to part of a masterpiece tapestry God is creating in which all of the good and "bad" things that have happened are being woven into the finished product. The difficult experiences are just as important to its beauty as are the joyful ones, and even though we may not understand or be able to make sense of them now, when we get to heaven the glory and beauty of what God has done will be revealed and we will marvel at it. Wow!  

My issues are so different from the ones my friend and her family are facing, and not nearly as devastating, but equally difficult to understand. For sure they aren't what I was expecting when I entered this chapter of my life with a blank notebook in which to record the things the Lord was about to do. 

He is doing many things, but not what I expected. I have had to give up my concept of what I think is best and acknowledge that not only are God's ways not my ways, but His way is the only way. He sees the whole picture, whereas my view is very limited. I need to trust that no matter what things may be looking like in the natural, He is in control and is working things out for my good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

I also need to remember that trials test the genuineness of our faith when Satan pushes our buttons and tries to get us to doubt the goodness of God, but God has given us all the tools we need in order to ace the test. He has given us His armor, His Word with which to counter every lie of the enemy, and the assurance that if we keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus and resist the devil, He will flee (Ephesians 6:11, 13; James 4:7).