Trials. They come in life – in some cases they are here today and gone tomorrow, but sometimes we feel like were living in a long time trial, its not comfortable, and we do sometimes wonder “Why?” we had to go through something in the end – and those answers aren’t always apparent, I mean I don’t always completely understand why I went thru anxiety which held me back in life, but I know I had to grow some to overcome it.

This video (shared with me by Daisy!) I think speaks highly of what trials can do for us, take a peek:

This mouse had it good – The Carpenters singing in good times… a piece of cheese, yet the cheese was placed upon the trap – I honestly was sad when I hear the *SNAP* thought it was a bad way for it to end! Then to see him breathing slowly, The Doors tell us “this is the end!”, but then… *WHAM!* Survivor takes us home with the mouse skillfully working the mouse trap like a bench press! And yes while its a advertisement for STRONG cheese, I think its a great example of what trials can do for us.

They Strengthen. While not the first thought we think when we go thru something difficult in life, but think back to something that was a trial in your life, and think of where you are now? Your stronger right? Look at the mouse, trapped in the mouse trap – and yet, he overcomes and takes where he is and gets a workout!

Romans 5 (NIV)

3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Perseverance, or as it goes back to the base of the word “Persist” which I think defines it quite nicely “lasting or enduring tenaciously” – key word I like there is enduring because to endure requires strength - and sometimes in trials we learn the ultimate strength of our weakness which is God’s perfect strength to lead us through a trial to the other side – but God does desire for us to try and have wisdom to rely on him.

I recently started at the gym after many years of not going, in signing up I picked up 3 training sessions, having gone thru all three now I’m done with training, but boy did those hurt after each one! I’ve been walking for the last year not really working the arms and they are sore after a workout! And yet thru the soreness, muscle is formed – thus the old saying No Pain, No Gain sometimes trials knock us down, sometimes they shake up our entire life – but once thru the trial, if we learn from it, we grow from it. Which leads to the next thing….

They Teach. I don’t think many folks look at life and say “I’m so glad I got into this trial!” but what if we did? Job didn’t likely start his day saying “I hope God takes everything from Me!” and yet thru his trial he was faithful to God, and that is where in our own trials, not maybe the same as Job’s but even in our smallest trial at say work, if we focus on God we can learn the lesson that it brings, because God’s never going to leave us even in the midst of a trial:

Deuteronomy 31 (NIV)

6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Just like a teacher stays with you thru your education, God tells us to not be afraid – for me Math has never been my strong suit, sure sure I can accomplish basic bits of math, my dad who’s a math guy taught me ways to overcome multiplying 9′s and it helped! I learned! But too God can take us through the valley – and the key there is through – but like the journey of school you must learn to move forward, you must take away from it what the teacher speaks and have it settle in you as knowledge to move onto the next year towards the completion of your education.

But let’s go back to the example in this video, he knew the trap, he saw though the cheese, and from what we see on the video as a whole, he knew the risk of the cheese and was prepared for it, maybe he experienced a weaker trap before, maybe he made it out with a scar on his tail previously, but going into things he knew he needed to be strong enough to hold back the bar from crushing him entirely, the teaching of a trial builds knowledge.

They Reward. Now that one may be one you didn’t expect to see coming, but this is part of the entire process, if you Learn and You Prepare you have received your reward, even Job going thru his trial came thru better than he started:

Job 42 (NIV)

12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys.

God blessed him as highlighted above “MORE” than he had been, and while we may not go thru Job style trials in life – maybe you feel like a trial your going thru or have gone thru was Job-Like – but now that thru it, you’ll come out on the other side changed – just like my experience at the gym has show new muscle, new endurance – even thru the discomfort of the training, or thru the pain of time on the elliptical all things said and done I’m changed – thru that pain new muscles form and I’m stronger, and that reward is I’m healthier!

But what did the mouse get out of it? Well end of the video he has a block of cheese, he made it through, he was caught, he worked it out (by working out) and in the end he got the Cheese he had hoped for! And that’s too what God has for us, he wants us to have good things in our lives, and yes sometimes trials shape and form us, we aren’t always as obedient as we should be, and sometimes correction is required – but God is a good parent, He desires the best for us (Jer. 29:11) and He wants those of us who truly love Him to have things work together for GOOD (Romans 8:28).

Last thing I leave you with is this verse:

Romans 8 (NIV)

25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Life is a journey – Today you may be in a trial, things may not make sense – focus instead of on the trial on God, let Him build you up! For if God is preparing you for something this is a workout you should not try to escape, it’s something you should let strengthen you, change you, and prepare you for what God has for you next, because even exercising patience for what we do not yet have builds us up and prepares us for when the blessings do come after the trial, even if it is learning the lesson we were given thru it, that in itself is an incredible reward.

So it’s been a week. 7 days and 8 hours without Social Networks. No poking, No liking, No checking in, No +1′ing, you name it, for a week I’ve not done it – the week was a good chance to look at how much time these networks which are meant to bring us together, really steal away from the time I desire to spend with others or focus on tasks and responsibilities in my day to day life.

I was actually surprised at how little I wanted to check in on status updates, there was honestly a part that wanted to check in at locations as did get out this past week and tried a few new places :-) but even foursquare and facebook were uninstalled from my phone, so even now as they are installed once again, they aren’t logged in but I think that helped with temptation too not being even installed sure it’ll be a little bit of work to get them all re-logged in but for the week it was definitely worth it.

A few folks sent emails/im’s and asked how I was – some even let me know they missed my posts on Facebook, but that leads me into my uncertainty of how social I’ll be moving forward – don’t get me wrong, I’ve logged in, looked at my notifications, saw the messages (all 2 of them) waiting for me, and really just kept going with my day, even now its 9am, and I’ve not really been too concerned about whats happening on Facebook! But I know too I want to make some changes to things on Facebook, sure I have 400 friends listed, but I want to really slim that down some, some folks are just ones I’ve hit “Accept” on, and thats going to change – Facebook allows a lot into your life, and while I tend to be a positive person, I don’t really desire to be brought down by negative folks and I don’t think its fair to simply Unsubscribe – have to get hit delete where needed not just sweep under a rug.

So changes are ahead, over the next few days in spare time, I’ll be pruning my friends list, I’ll be updating my profile – and too making some shifts in what and how I post to Facebook, I really want to after this past week push Light Unto a lot more, its taken a back seat sadly as the day job ended, but I want to in part push that on Facebook more, but too migrate from this site the Faith Articles -> Light Unto’s website, and really start to slowly retire the blog, but changes are coming – and changes that will be good.

If you haven’t guessed by some of my posts, or how I’ve been lately, things are changing in my personal life – things I want to protect, things I desire to hold closer to me than just talk it out here on the blog, because honestly – they are things that just make sense – but like my time and efforts towards social networking will change, so will this blog – and I think for the better.

Readers that have followed this blog for a long time be it friend or family, remember while this is an easy way in the past to keep an eye on my life, that my I am accesible in real-time, and I know that means maybe taking some of your time, but catch-up with me, ask me how things are let’s go from reading a blog to hearing me blog in person, on skype, on the phone, etc. I want to truly be SOCIAL and involved in friends and family’s lives – not just a post now and again which may not cover the questions you have about whats going on with me :-D

So stay tuned for what’s to come! Amazing things ahead for May, April was an incredible month! And coming back from this fasting of Facebook, I’m excited more and more about whats coming next! So stick around, things will change, things will be different, but in the end, it’ll all be good.

Ever just feel like you need a break? Lately one has been on my heart and mind – Social Networking. I’m am on twitter, facebook, instagram, youtube, pinterest, etc. etc. and it can take some time, it can be a resource, but it can also be a big distraction, one of which I am going to take a break from!

Starting April 29th thru May 6th – and not returning till 8AM on Monday the 6th – I’ll be off social networks entirely. Why? Because honestly do I need it? Not really – friends who know me know about Calling, Email and Texting – folks can get in touch with me for sure, but I’m going to really just fast this time and spend more time in the Word, focusing on my business, and I know that my business uses these tools – but I’ll even be telling my customers to monitor the Status Page, Blog and Customer Zone outages notifications – because I don’t want the temptation to sneak a peek!

I’m not just diving into it today simply “because” — I did plan this out as I want to have a week long bible study, and really have a week to shift communications away from social networks – but too I’ve been praying even about this blog!

This blog is a social link, granted not one that is highly visited, I mean in 3 months I’ve had a small 729 visitors – but most of whats written here is the past, its me thinking out things going in my heart and mind, and lately, honestly? I don’t feel the need to do that lately, because honestly there are amazing things on-going in my life – and while there’s part of me who wants to shout it all from the roof tops, I also want to protect it, and not make it a public spectacle, I don’t want the facebook yay’s and nay’s to effect me, so I’ve left it out – but if you want to know, ask me whats going on!

So I am praying actively about really retiring the blog, its been 1,800+ posts over a decade – and I think its had its time and purpose – maybe re-tool a blog later with a fresh start, but make this into a resume type site? Time will tell.

But please do be in prayer for me over this time,some things are changing, things are good, lots of smiles, lots of busy days, and even those busy days are blessed days! But for now I am going to flip off the screen, get some prayer time going, and just be excited for another day that God has given me! Hope you all have a blessed day too!

Over the last week a song has been on the radio alot, a song by Sidewalk Prophets called “Help Me Find It” – Here take a listen, lyrics after the video…

I don’t know where to go from here
It all used to seem so clear
I’m finding I can’t do this on my own

I don’t know where to go from here
As long as I know that You are near
I’m done fighting
I’m finally letting go

I will trust in You
You’ve never failed before
I will trust in You

[Chorus:]
If there’s a road I should walk
Help me find it
If I need to be still
Give me peace for the moment
Whatever Your will
Whatever Your will
Can you help me find it
Can you help me find it

I’m giving You fear and You give faith
I giving you doubt
You give me grace
For every step I’ve never been alone

Even when it hurts, You’ll have Your way
Even in the valley I will say
With every breath
You’ve never let me go

I will wait for You
You’ve never failed before
I will wait for You

[Chorus]

I lift my empty hands (come fill me up again)
Have Your way my King (I give my all to You)
I lift my eyes again (Was blind but now I see)
‘Cause You are all I need

[Chorus]

It’s also been a theme from my recent prayer notes in desiring God’s will, but too even in the sermon today talking about taking and following God on the journey of our life, I even laughed a little as Pastor Roger Spradlin spoke this morning about a “Book of your life” similar to my own analogy I’ve had for ages, just more and more on that God indeed has a plan.

The part of the song that gets me above is most definitely the chorus of:

If there’s a road I should walk
Help me find it
If I need to be still
Give me peace for the moment
Whatever Your will
Whatever Your will
Can you help me find it
Can you help me find it

Good things are happening, and sometimes even within those good things steps have to happen just like the song says if there’s a road I should walk, help me find it – but if I need to be still, give me peace for the moment – we do live in a go go go go go go world, always trying to get from A->B as quickly as we can to get to then C, then D, then E, then F (so on and so on) – but sometimes we do need to ask God if for a moment we are to be still, and in a world of fast food, fast downloads, fast cars – we go for speed, but sometimes God needs you to be still and listen because he needs you to be still to hear his still small voice.

My friend Daisy recently recommended a book to me called “The Phantom Tollbooth” – its a story about a young man named Milo on a journey and the journey shapes him, changes him, his desires, his imagination, his life – While I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone desiring to read this book, don’t click this following image – or read this next bit of text – [spoilers] but basically at two key points as he is moving in his journey two rulers each one separately of the other tells Milo that there is basically something he needs to know, but they’ll tell him after his journey, this page is the followup after his journey:

The Phantom Tollbooth

 

How many times is that true of our own lives that we let the opinions of others, the lies of the devil, and our own doubts cloud what God can do on our journey, while even everything seems lost, or out of place, the truth is many things are truly impossible in this life – and if we believe that they will truly be, but if we move forward with God leading, nothing with God is impossible[/spoilers]

Many thanks to Daisy for recommending the book, a story with many good lessons – even for this big kid :-) But today, I encourage anyone reading this, that if your unsure of your path, if your not sure if your to go left, or go right, seek God, and He’ll direct your paths! He may say – be still, He may say go left, or right, He may just say “Forward” but if your seeking it, He’ll show you what his plans are, just be sure above all else when you ask – Listen.

Have a Blessed Sunday All!

Oldies and Goodies

Visit our friends!

A few highly recommended friends...