Never Wasted!

IMG-20170305-WA0030There are times in life that things go diametrically different from our plans. I remember being in high school and failing harder than I ever had in my whole life before then and also after then. It didn’t matter how much I read, I failed. I had a D average for a couple of terms even after free marks in every class. My math teacher gave me a mark for every step of the question and I still had 16% in each paper so the average was 16%. So D average for several terms miraculously became a B- average and I went straight to university.

I had told God…mark my words…I told him and didn’t ask him. I said that on no uncertain terms would I go to pre-university. I didn’t make a grade for direct entrance I would learn a trade and pursue it. I wonder if my folks would have allowed that! Mmmmhhhh!

The poor grades had a massive impact on my sense of self and I struggled to prove to myself that I wasn’t foolish. Yes, I had begun to feel foolish with every failed exam. At the end of the day, it is another friend in university who helped me get past this sense of failure by believing in me and loving out of the despair.

Over the years as the despair would resurface when projects or life just isn’t working, this very friend would say things that made me mad enough with the way I had responded to force action and movement forward.

I now know that this person is my trigger person. They have license to tell me the truth whether or not I like it and stand there until they are sure I understand that it is love that drives them and not a mean spirit. I have come to understand that I don’t really have the depth and breadth of the latitude with them that they have with but that again is by divine design.

So it gets me thinking, what are we doing about the times in our lives when things aren’t working and we cannot see the way forward? Will we whine and complain or will we seek guidance and understanding for the depth, length and breadth of the situation.

It is better to understand that God has a plan that we cannot thwart and no lesson is wasted. How do I know? Quite simply! Romans 5:1-5 says “Faith Triumphs in Trouble”.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have[a] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Tribulation, struggle, challenge, hardships etc, pull or push us into the place of deeper engagement with God and a deeper expression of Him as long as it is the appointed path for us. I  have learnt to celebrate everything because it is how I will grow deeper and fuller into Him who thought of me before the foundations of the earth to honour him.

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