Pop quizzes, exams, and tests– students dread them! Christians also go through times of testing . While they can be stressful,  God promises to use them for our good. To do the study, This is a Test!, please click on the link!

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Today we are so fortunate to have a guest blogger at Only By Prayer. Brittany Jean is a nineteen-year-old college student living in the Midwest with her parents and younger brother. She is currently majoring in pre-law and is planning on using that degree for ministry.

Being confident in this, that He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Sometimes it’s easy to get down and not understand why God put us on this planet. Sometimes, when everything seems to be falling apart, it’s hard to see what purpose God could possibly have for our lives and what good He could bring out of our simple situations.

While I don’t have the answers, and I don’t know why God allows some events to happen, or our lives to sometimes get completely out of our control, I do know one comforting fact. God is walking beside us, and He is constantly working in us until He brings us home.

A mistake that I personally can make is that when something difficult occurs, I blame myself and beat myself up about it. However, if I truly believed that God is working in me to bring about His glory and is making a “good work” in me, I would be able to forgive myself and realize that God has an ultimate purpose in my life.

For example, sometimes very godly people will lose their jobs, and while they trust God, they can begin to look back and start with the “if onlys.” “If only I hadn’t been as bold in my witness at work.” “If only I had put more personal time into my job.” “If only I had worked harder,” and the list can go on and on.  The fact is, we can’t go back and change our circumstances and situations. We need to trust that God knows what He’s doing and has a purpose for bringing us through the trials He has allowed in our lives.

When life seems difficult and hard to understand, we need to remember Philippians 1:6 and realize that, if we allow Him to, God is always walking beside us and is using the situations we go through for His ultimate glory. Instead of walking around in fear about what has or might happen, we can walk in confidence and allow God to use our hurt and hardships for His ultimate good–and ours.

Pray on!

Today we are so fortunate to have a guest writer at Only By Prayer. Brittany Jean is a nineteen-year-old college student living in the Midwest with her parents and younger brother. She is currently majoring in pre-law and is planning on using that degree for ministry.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit. Psalm 34:18

The Hebrew definition for the word brokenhearted can be defined as anxious, stricken, destroyed, or shattered (The Strong’s NIV Exhaustive Concordance). Throughout the Old and New Testament, many of the people that would be defined as being close to God, such as David and Job, went through severe trials and hardships, leading them to feel brokenhearted. This shows that we are not alone! God’s faithful children have gone through moments of depression and brokenheartedness and have come out even stronger and closer to God than before!

Why does God allow His children to go through hardships and trials?

In Philippians 1:12-14 Paul is in prison, but instead of complaining about his situation, he rejoices because he knows that what he is going through is only encouraging others to also take a stand for Christ. Many times, God will allow us to go through hardships in order to encourage and be a testimony to others. God can also use these times in our lives to draw us closer to Him, because He loves us and longs to be near to us.

How does God show His protection by allowing us to go through trials?

In Psalm 119:67, David says “before I was afflicted, I went astray.” This shows that sometimes God allows trials into our lives so that we can learn to rely on Him and not on the things of this world. When God takes away everything we hold to be important, our only choice left is to lean on Him, and because He is madly in love with us, He will bring us through the wilderness—sometimes in order to bring us closer to Him.

How should this impact every Christian’s life?

2 Corinthians 1:4 says “[God] comforts us in all affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” God does not only use pastors and counselors to help hurting people; He uses all Christians who allow Him to use their hurt to help other people. While sometimes we may not understand why we go through what we go through, God sees the whole picture and may be using us to help someone else in need.

What other examples does the Bible give us on why we go through trials?

Can God still use us to help others in the midst of our hurting, or do we need to wait until we are healed and through our trial?

Why do you think so?

Was there a time in your life when someone helped you because they went through a similar situation?

How did they make a difference?

Is there someone who is hurting that you can help because of your experience?

What can you do?

Jane VanOsdol

Join Jane VanOsdol and Mary Kane as they welcome their guests Laura Hulce and Carol Jewell to discuss how to pray for families suffering through a job loss. Carol and Laura discuss the hardships that families go through as they grapple with this challenge and offer practical suggestions on how to pray for and support these families.

Mary Kane

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