Better Than A Hallelujah

This, my friends, has been an overwhelming week.  When I posted my blog on Thursday I felt so joyous; I knew God had truly rescued me.  What I had not realized was that Satan would not be so easily defeated.  Within the next 24 hours, I received two pieces of news that, at one point in my life, had the power to drive me to the brink of destruction.  The situation I found myself in was one that I have been put in one other time, and it was a situation so unique most people never experience it once.  To have to experience it twice?  Well, I would say the odds are drastically against it.   Only the Enemy would have known that to place me back into that situation could be my undoing.  Only my God could bring me through it stronger.

In the last two days I have encountered a great deal of shock and pain, but I have truly discovered what it means to rejoice in the face of our trials.  When God removed me from the situation I blogged about on Thursday, he was actually removing me from a far greater danger I hadn’t been aware of.  Like a child playing the street who doesn’t see the truck bearing down on him, my Father reached out and rescued me.  I have never before experienced the assault of evil in such a pointed, strong manner, never felt it to be such a palpable thing.  I have also never been made more aware of the absolute presence of God acting in my life to swiftly counter Satan’s work.  How amazing it is!   I find it to be a truly beautiful thing that my Savior could work so diligently in my life to prepare me for this battle.  The sequence of events that occured this week is nothing less than supernatural.

I find myself wondering where to go from here, and what God has planned for me.  This week has taught me to truly be patient, and to listen for God’s will in my life.  I now realize that acting before He has directed me, or worse yet being disobedient to his direction can only lead to heartache.  He will use my heartache, though, because God does not let our suffering go to waste.  He turns it into something shining if we let him.

I’ve been attending a Bible study on the book of Jonah, and a few weeks ago we discussed the fact that by the time Jonah agreed to do as God willed, he had been through the wringer.  He had been in the belly of a fish, and was dirty, smelly, and out of sorts.  As a result, the people of Ninevah truly listened; Jonah was not a clean, shining profit.  Instead, he was one they could relate to, one who had obviously been challenged.  I hope that God grants me the privilege of serving him in some way through my life experiences; not only the happy, great experiences, but also these experiences that cause heartache and pain, the ones that cause us to draw closer to Him as we struggle with our pain.

And so I press on…rejoicing in this trial and the good things that will come from it.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.  Plans for good and not for evil, plans for a hope and a future.  ~Jeremiah 29:11

Advertisement

~ by Jenn on April 30, 2011.