He's working out His best for you...

     I’m looking back over my life and I’m realising I’m seeing a lot of growth and development. My prayer life, my praise and worship have all been overhauled. But how did I reach to this point of introspection and subsequently self-realisation? Well, the rain began to fall outside…
    Okay, so what does the rain have to do with anything you may ask? As the rain began to fall, I got off my bed where I was resting - and I started to talk to God. Various thoughts were flowing through my mind and I got up and started talking to Him. I realised that indeed God causes the rain to fall on the just and on the unjust as well as the sun to shine on the same. What did that memory prompt? It was a reminder that God loves the unjust. He is concerned about them too, not just about me. I thought to myself that this is the reason why He commands us to love our enemies. They are our enemies because they have hurt us in some way but guess what God still wants to bless them, He still loves them. What they have done to us does not cause God to love them less. Think about it, we have done things to offend others also. We too have hurt others. But God doesn’t hate us, He still desires to bless us, to give us His best. You see with God there is always a bigger picture. He knows the power of forgiveness so He encourages it because it will benefit us more than holding a grudge, more than wishing evil against another. In fact, our growth depends on it. I also looked at Job. Job was about to be blessed by God but he had to do one very important thing - forgive His friends. His friends had been a thorn in his flesh instead of a source of comfort and encouragement in his time of need. Yet, God loved his friends. How do we know this? He told them to go to Job so he could pray for them (Job 42:7-8). It doesn’t sound as if God was interested in destroying them because of their treatment of Job and all the erroneous things they had said about God. He was willing to give them a chance … and He wanted Job to do the same. In the end, Job received amazing blessings (Job 42:10) and his friends escaped much deserved punishment. It was a win win for all concerned.
    And this is the point where I realised how much I have grown. All the points in my life where there was conflict and pain, God had used the pain to bring out my best praise, my best worship. It’s easy to worship God when things are going good, but try doing it when your emotions are crushed, your mind is in turmoil, and life just seems so unfair. When you choose to worship in spite of, what you’re in essence saying is: “God, even though I don’t understand, even though it seems so unfair and painful, I’m going to worship You anyway. I’m not going to wait for the pain to go away, for the situation to change, I’m going to worship You right now as if my life depended on it.” Worship is more than just a feeling, it’s a choice. It’s a choice to honour God, to be thankful even when you feel like you have nothing to be thankful for. It’s a choice to praise Him for His goodness even though you can’t see it. I had finally learned how to truly worship God. Many times before it was just words but there was no understanding. Now I praise and worship with understanding and I know it’s more meaningful to Him as well as to me.
    So that’s why I spoke at the start about my growth and development. Everything that had happened to me over many years - both good and bad - God had used and is still using to bring the best out of me. While going through I couldn’t always see it. I was blinded by the pain and anger and even at times shame. But in retrospect, I can see God’s hand on my life every step of the way. His Word is true: All things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Nothing with God is by accident everything has purpose behind it. So be thankful because He is using everything both good and bad to work out what’s best for you!

P.S. I don't ever ask this but please click on comments and share a testimony or give a few words of thanksgiving to God for His goodness towards you. Thanks for sharing.​