Life's trials are designed to give us a future and a hope

No matter what trials are thrown at us in this life you can be certain of one thing...God is not surprised! God's plan is that all things will work together for our ultimate good. This trust in Him is our only hope and it will allow us to praise Him even when we don't feel like it.

My wife's favorite scripture verse is Jer 29:11. The "Message" version is great to read as it provides us another vantage point because much of the meaning from the original Hebrew could not be clearly translated into English.

Jeremiah 29:10-11 (The Message)

10-11This is God's Word on the subject: "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

These verses talk about the children of God who were captured by the enemy. For 70 years they lived under the rule of the Babylonians but God knew and had through His prophets told this to His children. Yet many didn't read about it or believe it but some did and Daniel was one of them. He lived under 4 different Kings and served them all faithfully despite difficult circumstances. He never once complained because he knew it will be 70 years before God will return them back to their home. He prayed at the end of 70 years for God's plan to come to pass. And it did!

It is the same for all of us! Although we would not behave like Daniel, we can trust God's word which says He has it all planned out for our good. My wife's testimony is about her miraculous healing which took place in 1995. She suffered excruciating pain throughout a 7 month period and was only able to sleep for 2 hours every night. This is despite taking heavy doses of medication which the doctors prescribed. We sought God and she got this verse which she held on to, till He healed her instantaneously on the seventh month. It was so supernatural that, one morning she woke up and the pain disappeared. This was a desert experience but necessary for our growth.

I would like to leave you with this quotation from Dan Allender's The Healing Path

The healing path must pass through the desert, or else our healing will be the product of our will and wisdom. It is in the silence of the desert that we hear our dependence upon noise. It is in the poverty of the desert that we see clearly our attachments to the trinkets and baubles we cling to for security and pleasure. The desert shatters the soul's arrogance and leaves body and soul crying out in thirst and hunger. In the desert we trust God or we die.