It's Good Friday - a cause for prayer and reflection.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was
crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5 Yes, we
have been Promised healing through Christ's sacrifice.
Rest in that promise. And in 2 days, we get to
rejoice that God's promise was fulfilled 2000 years
ago in an empty tomb. Amen!

I pray for you all, that you are blessed today, by
this devotional.

BK

God’s Plan for My Pain
I really resist (or do I resent?) the trite words that
are often given as sage advice to someone who is going
through difficult times:

"Well, just think about poor Aunt Pearl (or your
sister, or someone you knew thirteen years ago, or
someone you don’t even know). What if you were in her
shoes? You can always find someone who has more
problems than you do. Be thankful that yours are not
as bad as theirs. Just think about that . . . you
know, walking in their moccasins for two weeks."

Nope. That’s not what I need to hear. I don’t want my
needs or my circumstances to be minimized. They are
very real to me. Pressing. Hurting. Stressful. No two
problems are alike. Your needs are critically
important to you. My needs are critically important to
me.

God doesn’t minimize my needs or compare them with
"Aunt Pearl’s," but comparing God’s grace with my
needs blows the cobwebs out of my thinking wheels. How
big is God’s grace? Big enough to take care of my
needs? Oh, yes.

But the difficulty arises both in allowing Him to meet
my needs—in His way, in His timing—and in determining
what my real need is. I may think it’s money to pay a
debt when He would say, "No, Anabel. You need to learn
discipline in taking care of the material things I
have given you." I may think my need is release from a
circumstance that I am in when He would tenderly
admonish me, "No, my sweet Anabel. You need to
practice endurance." I may be praying for release from
pain. This, Lord, is my need. Once again He would say,
"No, Anabel. You need to learn true compassion."

So once again I say, "I trust You, Lord." You have
made me and You are now busy conforming me to Your
image. I want that. I don’t want the pain and the
stress and the frustration, but I can’t have one
without the other. I guess it’s kind of like having a
baby. It would be nice to have him without the nine
months of being nauseated and the discomfort of
carrying him around all the time in my tummy, not to
mention the intense pain of helping him make his way
into our world. But that’s a part of motherhood. I
can’t separate one from the other.

My deepest thanks to You, my precious Lord, for your
willingness to go through all of these things with me
. . . for me . . . through me . . . and for letting me
know the expected outcome: to be like You.

We know that God causes all things to work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are
called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew
He also predestined to become conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many
brethren.
Romans 8:28,29

© Lifetime Guarantee Ministries


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"No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his
love has been brought to full expression through us." 1 John 4:12

www.brennakate.com
www.livejournal.com/~brennakate

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