What You Don't Know...
The Bible states that all things are working together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose... I love the Lord and I know I am called.... But one has to think: According to His Purpose. God is a loving, tender hearted, and kind God who promises us that He has plans to prosper us, not to harm us; to give us hope and a future - in other words, an expected end. I believe all this but I cannot deny the question of why?
This clearly says that all things are working for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose and His purpose is for us to prosper - to give us an expected end... However, many do not see the expected end. Why? Because in today's culture and yesterday's culture the middle" is ignored. What you don't know is the pain experienced in the "in between time" that you MUST endure to see your expected end.... Still mumble jumble? Let me break it down:
What you don't know is...
You have to endure being misunderstood. It seems nowadays good intentions are ignored and replaced with each's reality which, 99.9% of the time, arises from one's past pain.
You have to be kind... REGARDLESS of the other's person's actions
You have to look rejection in the face... And deal with it.
You will experience betrayal
Significant people will leave you (yes I said significant because for too long have we generalized this statement by just saying "people")
You may lose a lot... You may fail a lot...
You may feel like the world is against you...
You may feel like you've taken three steps back... (And in all actuality, you may have - deal with it)
Reading the Bible becomes hard
Praying becomes harder
You may get sick
You will be disappointed
You may become drained
You may give up
You will experience temptation daily
You will become angry, frustrated, and impatient....
Yet, all things are working for my good... If I'm dealing with all of the above (which is just a glimpse of what you may experience in the process), then how can I possibly endure when it feels like my insides are being ripped out? The pain felt in my stomach is sometimes unbearable and I feel like falling apart everytime I do what God tells me; the feedback of rejection is sometimes unmanageable.
And still ... All things are working for my good. Why? Because this type of pain only comes from grief and self-denial.... In other words, an obedient spirit. The things God asks us to do has great strategy behind it and is beneficial to our development. After the scripture declares that All things are working together for our good, the writer continues to say that we are more than conquerors... Now I don't know about you, but when I think about a conqueror I go back to the classic movie "Rocky." I imagine Rocky with his arms up showing that he conquered right when everyone else loss hope in his ability to win.
This scripture, along with the movie illustration, tells me that even at your lowest and weakest, you still have potential to conquer... Actually, you have the potential to do more than conquer (according to scripture). We are able to excel; why? Because it's not by power, it's not by might but it's by HIS SPIRIT.
What I learned is that the only way to endure in low places is to submit to God. Be obedient to Him no matter what. You want to know something else?
What you don't know is that you are completely human. Therefore, you can have your human moment. All the emotions and feelings listed above are REAL and experienced even when you're doing the best that you can. Be human. Cry, yell, stomp, or sit... God gave us these emotions not to ignore but to deal with.... Emotions make us relatable with others. You are not able to touch others, if you haven't experienced pain.
Jesus is the example we follow today because He is not "...a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses," but He is "...one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are..." (Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus was betrayed by one that He discipled... Actually, He washed Judas' feet... SERVED Judas with His WHOLE heart (because Jesus doesn't half-do things); and you don't think that Jesus' flesh wanted to slap Judas when the time came for Him to be betrayed? Because He was human I'm sure He felt something, but He wasn't consumed by what He felt. Why? Because hours before, He was in prayer and was so overwhelmed that His sweat was like drops of blood... But He pressed to pray because He knew that he couldn't get through this without God and His strength... His flesh was weak but His spirit was strong and CONNECTED; therefore controlled.
It's okay to face your emotions and how you really feel. I caution you, to make sure that it's done in a safe place and that at the end of the day you are directed back to the One Who is causing all things to work for your good. The only way that you can become completely consumed by your emotions and feelings is to ignore them when felt. They will continue to build up until you explode and guess what? You're consumed.
Own where you are... It's apart of God's creation of you. Just make sure that you take everything back to God... Because what you don't know is that if you endure this the right way, then you're transformation is not far away.