My guest blogger this week is Sharon Jaynes who writes for Girlfriends in God at http://girlfriendsingod.com/ Sharon writes: “When You Don’t Like the Story God is Writing.”
If it were up to me, I would have scripted some of life’s stories differently. So many tragedies have struck people near and dear to me that if I were the writer, they would have been changed.
Fortunately, I’m not the author, because each of these women impact thousands of women all over the world with their powerful stories of God’s redemption. God turned their pain into purpose, their misery into ministry and their devastation into anointed messages of hope and restoration. Their journeys have led them through dark valleys and back out into the light on the other side.
But if I had to decide –
My second child would not have passed away before she was born. Carol’s son would not be in prison. Linda’s daughter would not be a quadriplegic. Barbara’s daughter would not be bipolar. Patty’s daughter would not have been in a fatal car accident. Jennifer’s husband would not have succumbed to a brain tumor.
Difficult times are pregnant with glory moments – moments when we see God’s plan just waiting to be birthed in the lives of those willing to labor through the pain. The key is not to allow bitterness and anger to make our hearts infertile to God’s gifts.
One way to avoid the darkening of the soul is by constant communication seasoned with thanksgiving – a continual acknowledgement of God’s presence.
God could spare us from tragedies, hardships, and unpleasant situations, but He is far more interested in developing our character than in doling out a life of comfort and ease. C.S. Lewis notes: “If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable. Think of it as a place of training and correction, and it’s not so bad.”
That’s where Proverbs 3:5-6 comes in: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Sharon has been encouraging and equipping women through ministry for over twenty-five years. From the time she met Christ as a teenager, she fell in love with God’s Word and has had a passion to bring God’s truth to today’s woman.
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