Yes! There is a purpose even for this!

If you are going to do something, do it with purpose. Every moment we endure in this life, good and bad, happy and sad, has purpose and we have a choice what to do. We can dwell on what it could have been, or we can evaluate it for what it was worth and move on. God allows life to happen very purposefully, and nothing happens by accident. When he hands us something to deal with, whether we expect it or not—and most of the time we are surprised!—we are immediately thrust into his spotlight, you could say. He is allowing it to see how we will act upon it. He is allowing it so we have the opportunity to behave in a way that says, “Lord, I believe in You and Your purpose for my life! I will walk this out by faith and trust You have use for even a moment such as this!” or, we will do the complete opposite and turn from God, curse Him and wallow in bitterness and regret for the rest of our lives. I think it is safe to say that most of us have faced a few things in our lives that we would have rather not, had we been given the choice. The difference between how the world handles it and how we handle it, that is what sets us apart. I have been studying a number of familiar characters in the Bible over the course of the past several days. Paul, my goodness what he did and how God transformed him—the struggles he endured and to boldly state that we should endure it with great joy! Job—could it have been any worse? The loss, the suffering, the grief he endured and how God brought him through it. Daniel—can you imagine being thrown into a den of lions, and surviving it? The faith, the trust He had in God to take care of him and to see how God miraculously delivered him. And today—Jonah. Called by God to go, and he ran the other way. He had no interest in doing what God called Him to. I am not sure any one of us in our lifetime could claim to know what it is like to have been ingested by a large fish and vomited out, and go through all that he did to finally understand God would take care of him, God had a mighty plan for his life beyond anything he could have imagined for himself. At some point, each one of these men and all of us must come to the realization that regardless of how we feel about it, we must push through the most difficult times in our lives because God has allowed it for our good, to help us grow and change, to mold us more into who intends for us to be, and ultimately it is necessary, required before we are truly ready for what He has for us to do next. The painful truth we must face in what seems like unending struggle, we must realize brokenness is a necessity on the path to righteousness. We will never be completely righteous, worthy until we stand before Him one day and tells us we’ve done good, we’ve done what He called us to do in this life. We must make this our life goal, to work toward righteousness daily, to work toward being more whole and complete, the creature God intended for us to be. We are called to be set apart, and to live a life in this manner:

“Be joyful always; pray continuously; give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

I am learning as I walk through life that God’s will for me is not something I will completely understand or grasp in a few years and that is it for the rest of my life. God’s will is continuously evolving for me and He only will reveal to me what is necessary for this season right now. The seasons to come will be revealed as He sees I am ready, as He sees the time is right. I must let go of my need to be in control and trust God to do what only He does best. As much as I’d love to be at the wheel and drive, that is a place that only God is intended to fill. He is the driver, I am the passenger. I must trust Him to know where I need to go, and not hound him like an impatient child on a family road trip, “Are we there yet?!” Somehow I will choose daily to be content in the passenger’s seat, and trust the Driver more because after all He’s done for me….He deserves it.