Trouble come my way....

John 16:33
In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.

          Guaranteed by Jesus himself:  trouble gonna come my way.  This seems like a strange promise from our Savior.  But we learn the truth of this warning everyday--either in our own lives or in the lives of people we love.  Or maybe it hits us when we see the morning headlines.  The world is a hard place to live.  There is trouble everywhere.
          Sometimes we can avoid it; other times it chases us down.  Trouble on a broad spectrum is a human fact.  We will experience trouble at one time or another ranging from temporary inconveniences to tradgedies that alter our lives permanently.
          Every trial is an oportunity to deepen our faith and our dependence on God.  It's wonderfully encouraging to know that God cheers us on and feels proud of us when we persevere in godliness.  He compares life sufferings to the refining of precious metals with fire.
          I have friends on my prayer list right now that I wish I could rescue from the flames.  I pray that God will.  But while I believe that God cares and that he hears my prayers with compassion, he sees my friends from a different perspective from mine.   He knows they can survive and be the stronger and wiser on the other side.  He knows they'll be more beautiful, like refined gold or silver.  In my shortsightedness, I liked them just the way they were with all the dross still strewn thoughout their characters.God has a higher plan for using their trials.
          When I am the one suffering, I love turning to Zechariah 13:7-9.  It assures me that followers of the Great Shepherd will be tested.  It's a price worth paying to be counted among his flock.  He lets us know that not everyone willl make it through the flames with their faith intact.  But, oh, those who do....
Zechariah 13: 9
This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.  They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, "They are my people," and they will say, "The Lord is our God."
          Wow!  If going through this refining by fire is what it takes for God to look at me and say, "She's mine!"  If refining is part of the process that makes me God-dependent and pure, the value of the fire is as great as the gold!  How wonderful for God to be proud to claim me as his very own!