I have two words for you to understand:
"Stay Strong".
You may be saying, 'I've heard that from my pastor heaps of times' but there's a reason for that.
Why did I decide to do a devotion for a blog today? I dunno, but I infer that it has something to do with my friend.
Let me start you off:
Tonight I was visiting my friend's house (for confidential reason the person shall remain anonymous) and we planned on having dinner, watching movies and playing games, pretty basic stuff. My friend had planned to watch St. Trinians but fortunately it broke and stopped working half-way through. So we had to find something else to do. So we started talking about our past, you know, bit of nostalgia. As soon as I hit Grade 9, damn I hit a goldmine of convesation points.
My friend, who coincidentally went to the same school as me, had a really rough time. Afterwards, my friend was diagnosed with severe despression disorder. Wow, that shocked me and I really didn't know what to say, all I could do was listen.
My friend made quite a list of events that brought her down to this level. Some were really horrifying and unbelieveable. I just cannot imagine anyone in my grade doing that kind of damage to someone. It was unheard of.
My friend continued talking about the pills that were required to keep calm. My friend had suffered several breakdowns and I was gobsmacked. I could not have seen this just by looking at her.
That was the reason I began to ponder on the questions often asked by teenagers.
"If God is so loving and cares for me, how can he let stuff happen to me."
From that period of time (about 8:00pm) to 1:50 in the morning, I have deduced 3 reasons why, I believe, God lets these things happen.
1) God wants to test us! Say you were leading a kingdom and another kingdom was uprising and seizing your land. Blood and torture spread from north to south. If you were loyal to your lord, you would never leave his side, no matter what the consequence. If you were not, you would side with the enemy.
God wants us to prove our loyalty. If we fall under the influence of evil and if we give in to our fears and worries, then we are not loyal and we do not show love for God, which is what He wants. If we hang onto God and believe that every thing is going to be alright, then God promises He will be there for us when things get dark and He will reward those who stick by Him.
2) God wants us to appreciate what we have! Most of you who are reading my blog probably live satisfactory or great lives. You have a couch, a television, food, clean water, everything to come home to. When things like love and jobs are taken away from us, we are shown what we have and begin to appreciate what God has done for us.
Sure we can curse at God, and blame Him for all our troubles. What does that get you? You may feel better, but you've blamed the one person who has stood by you and helped you this whole time. Instead, if you pray to God to help you and thank Him for what you do have, then he WILL help you and he WILL make you better off then you were before, whether that be in this life or the next.
3) God is training you to be a better person! Say you were leading a football team and you had one week to train them before a massive footy game against a hardcore school. What would you do?
Well there are two options you can take:
1) You can lounge around and just let the kids muck around with the ball and have 'fun' before the final football game, where you will be judged on your knowledge and skill.
OR
2) You can train your team and work hard to make your team the best team. If that means pain, if that means discomfort, if that means a time where there will be sorrow in order to come out on top and be judged well, then that is what you will do. Because you know, that going through pain now and coming out as judged well is better then lounging around and being judged poorly.
God wants only the best for you. Don't forget him, don't leave him and don't abandon hope. Instead, use this opportunity to become closer to God. Let Him take control of your life. He know's what's coming up and He will train you to be the best person you can be.
Now I don't want to say that I am perfect. I have days when I can sometimes blame God and ask him why He doesn't just either do something or get it over with. But I remember that what Jesus did was a lot lot lot lot lot worse then what I will ever go through.
Let's think about it. Jesus was loved at one point and respected by most, in a short period of time he was rejected, beaten, punished, tortured, forced to carry a huge cross, whipped, nailed, spat at, and finally crucified on a cross, like a common criminal. When we lose a boyfriend/girlfriend, we think it's huge but Jesus lost almost every single person who had once followed Him. They gave into the crowd and watched as His own followers, people who once threw palms at his feet, nailed him into a cross and hung him out until he died a slow and painful death.
Remember that when life gets tough. Remember that when you want to jump off a roof. Pray to God when you want to die. Pray to God when you just want to know why He's doing this to you.
God has a reason, listen closely and He will tell you. Whether that day, week, month or year. Stay strong and you will reap the rewards.
"A crop that is harvested after patience, through sweat and tears, will produce better fruit then that which is harvested as soon as it is buried." (GreenDog)
Give God a chance. Even if you don't believe in Him. Just pray, the worst that could happen is you're wrong and you talked to yourself for one minute.
Please, I know God has the potential to fix anyone's life. You have to ask Him yourself though.
Good night and God Bless,
GreenDawg!
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