Thought of the day

This post is going to be a slight departure from my original intent of telling funny stories. The Holy Spirit gave me a thought today that goes along the lines of James 1. My wife and I have been going through some challenges in our lives that I'm sure mostly everyone goes through. Don't worry, they are all normal and nothing to call 911 or that show Intervention about. Anyway, the Lord laid it on my heart that challenges are God's signal on where He wants to make you better. And when I say the word "better", I mean to become more like Christ. I have caught myself on numerous occasions, and I'm sure I will in the future, that I try to get through a struggle in my life in order to be more successful and more balanced, instead of being more like Christ. The only way to grow is to struggle, have growing pains (which I am very familiar with), and even cry on occasion. I have seen so many cases of this in pretty much everyone I have known on a more personal basis.

The Lord has not abandoned you in your time of need. Your time of need exists because He is there with you, intimately, lovingly making you more like Him. This is a lifelong process that will never stop until we are caught up with Him, where there will be no regret, and no questions of "what if...?" What a huge honor to know that the Lord is with us every billisecond of the day (I just made that up just now) molding us and shaping us to be like Him. Anyway, that is my thought of the day. Enjoy.