The Blessings of Brokenness by Charles Stanley

God has really used this man, and this book to train me....I don't know why I think of myself just trotting down this gold pathway to heaven...I see the road to heaven in my mind....but somehow, I forget to paint in the trials....I have had to change the way I paint the picture in my mind...I was forgetting to put on my camaflouge suit...getting ready to dodge the bullets....When did I forget I was in a war?

And...when did I forget that God is always molding me and shaping me....?

Here's the part that spoke to me today.....

"When we experience diffiicult times or feel great inner pain and turmoil, we usually try to assign blame. We say one of two things: either "The devil caused this" or "God caused this." The great likelihood is this:::::The devil caused it, and God allowed it.

He next talks about Job..but, here is the part that spoke to me..."Throughout Jobs pain and losses, God never abandoned Job for EVEN A MOMENT. He knew at each step of the way how Job was being afflicted. God also knew he was refining Job.

I drew a picture of me life today....(stick figures are my specialty)! And I drew arrows at me...listing all the painful things that have happened in my life....divorce, troubled finances, living single, loss of job, unmet desires, lonliness, confusion, depression....

God was standing there when those arrows came...and He allowed them to come....

My stick figure had a happy face....and I was thinking....if my way of glorifying God is to smile through the trials...then so be it....if he wants to rain more trials on me....well, I will still smile...with His help.

Anyway...once I finished my quiet time...this song was on the radio..pretty good timing.....

See Let it Rain Next