To allow pain shows His great love

II Corinthians 12:8-10

For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Maybe I am just a little behind and others have had this thought before...but did you ever just sit and actually Thank God for your struggles? I mean not just say...God give me strength to get thru this...or Okay God whatever your will I will be content with, but actually thank Him for them. And not that I am out looking for pain and suffering...because what human being would actually do that, but after going thru some things I am able to look back and see the hand of God in the trials and realize that thru those times , although very painful (and at the time I DID NOT want to be going thru them.), it was those times that caused me to grow and draw closer to God. It was those times that "he carried me". We may want to struggle and keep ourselves afloat when the storms of life are raging--and when we focus on ourselves and what WE can do to save ourselves from the painful experience or we are frantically looking and relying on ourselves to save us, we have taken our eyes off of the only one that really can. Let us keep our eyes on Christ. There is a sweet peace in knowing that whatever we go thru in this life we have a God that knows, and cares, and loves us, and although we cannot see the reasons...He is in control. God actually loves us when he allows us to go thru trials, for only thru these are we able to see just how much he holds us. We can hear about God's grace thru tribulation, but until you actually experience it, I don't know if you really understand the true depths of it. I may be wrong, and it may just be my own experience, but during times of trial when you have no control and you feel yourself sinking into sorrow, one of the most awesome experiences is to feel those hands pulling you back up and putting His arms around you...Amazing Grace. So no I am not one that goes and seeks pain and I don't want it and I don't pray for pain, but looking back I can now thank God for it. Do I wish for "bad" things to happen...no...but I do pray that God will continue to give me grace to fall on him. I pray that with each trial that it draws me closer to God and that it does not harden me. Lord, keep my heart tender. And if it gets broken let me allow you to heal it.

I Thessalonians 5:18

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.