Trials As a Testament
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:5-6
Sometimes, we have to be broken by the Lord so that He can mend us back together. One of the coolest things about Jesus is that He works through our struggles. Our struggles and sorrows are not undeserved acts against us, but they are instead a testament to His glory.
About a year ago, the Lord took a circumstance that completely broke me, and that same circumstance became a doorway for me to grow deeply in my relationship with Him and proclaim His goodness.
A little bit of background on me: in 2014, I headed to Samford University on a soccer scholarship. This was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and I enjoyed every bit of my time getting to pull on that jersey.
During the middle of my senior year playing soccer at Samford, I suffered an injury that stopped my career abruptly. I blew out my knee with 8 games to go in the season, and it changed everything. This was something that I had watched a ton of my friends and teammates go through, but I never thought it would happen to me.
To say that I was devastated is an understatement. The Lord had taken away the one thing that I was most passionate about, and the one thing that I felt like I couldn’t live without. The moment I went down on the field, I knew my life was going to be very different.
However, throughout surgery and a 9-month recovery, I watched the Lord use this trial to change my heart. Each day of my recovery involved ups and downs, but I eventually saw how much the Lord was teaching me through my situation.
“There is a connection between the strange circumstances allowed by God and what we know of Him, and we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God.”
God wants to make us holy. This is why we have to remember that His will is greater than our own desires. His promises fulfill so much more than anything that this life can offer.
When I was physically broken, I became more reliant on the powerful strength of the Lord. You might have experienced a similar struggle - the loss of a family member or friend, the diagnosis of a sickness, an injury, a job change, or a sorrow that you just cannot seem to bear. The moments where we feel broken are the moments that we can turn to the Lord, find our strength, and trust that He is good in all things. While we might feel angry or confused as to what God is doing, we can trust that He uses these trying times to make us more eager in following Him.
When we think that we can do everything on our own, God breaks us down in order to remind us of His power and His strength that will ultimately put us back together again. There will always be times where we question or doubt God’s plan for us, but the truth is this: His eternal promises offer more than we could ever imagine.
So, when something flips your life upside down, remember that He is good, His plan is for us, and that we can lay our burdens down at His feet. In the unpredictability of this life, God’s promises for eternity without pain or suffering are permanent and real. Find strength in that.