Transforming Your Pain Into Purpose

God Will Carry You Through

You'll get through this. You think you won't. We all do. We fear that the depression will never lift, the yelling will never stop, the pain will never leave...We wonder: Will this gray sky ever brighten? This load ever lighten? We feel stuck, trapped, locked in. Will we ever exit this pit? Yes! Deliverance is to the bible what jazz music is to Mardi Gras - bold, brassy, and everywhere.

Does God guarantee the absence of struggle and the abundance of strength? Not in this life. But he does pledge to reweave your pain for a higher purpose. It won't be painless, it won't be quick, but God will use your mess for good.

Excerpts from Max Lucado's novel, God Will Carry You Through. With over 100 million products in print and appearing regularly on the New York Times Best Seller List, Max Lucado is one of America's favorite writers. He serves the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Denalyn, and a sweet, but misbehaving mutt Andy.

Don't Forget Your Destiny

God chose you. The choice wasn't obligatory, required, compulsory, forced, or compelled. He selected you because he wanted to. You are his open, willful, voluntary choice. He walked onto the auction block where you stood, and he proclaimed, "This child is mine." And he bought you "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:19).

You are God's child, forever. Don't believe the tombstone. You are more than a dash between two dates. Don't get sucked into short-term thinking. Your struggles will not last forever, but you will. It may seem that calamity sucked your life out to sea, but it hasn't. You still have your destiny.

God is Near

"The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian" (Genesis 39:2 NKJV). Joseph arrived in Egypt with nothing but the clothes on his back and the call of God on his heart. Yet by the end of four verses, he was running the house of the man who ran security for Pharaoh. How do we explain this turnaround? Simple: God was with him.

Here you are in your version of Egypt. It feels foreign. You don't know the language. You never studied the vocabulary of crisis. You feel far from home, all alone. Money gone. Expectation dashed. Friends vanished. Who's left? God is. Your family may be gone. Your supporters may have left. Your counselor may be silent. But God has not budged. His promise still stands: "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go" (Genesis 28:15 NIV).

You will never go where God is not.

God is in All Days

There is nothing trite about your wheelchair, empty pantry, or aching heart. These are uphill, into-the-wind challenges you are facing. They are not easy. But nor are they random. God is not sometimes sovereign. He is not occasionally victorious. He does not occupy the throne one day and vacate it the next. This season in which you find yourself may puzzle you but it does not bewilder God. He can and will use it for his purpose.

What is coming will make sense of what is happening. Let God finish his work. Let the composer complete his symphony. The forecast is simple. Good days. Bad days. But God is in all days. He is the Lord of the famine and the feast, and he uses both to accomplish his will.

To Believe is the Highest Thing

When you face a crisis, seek counsel from someone who has faced a similar challenge. Ask friends to pray. Look for resources. Reach out to a support group. Most importantly, make a plan.

You'd prefer a miracle for your crisis? You'd rather see the bread multiplied or the stormy sea turned to glassy calm in a finger snap? God may do this. Then again, he may tell you, "I'm with you. I can use this for good. Now, let's make a plan." Trust him to help you. God's sovereignty doesn't negate our responsibility. Just the opposite. It empowers it. When we trust God, we think more clearly and react more decisively.

Trust God to do what you can't. Obey God and do what you can.

Ultimate Victory

Life turns every person upside down. No one escapes unscathed. Not the woman who discovers her husband is having an affair. Not the businessman who has his investments embezzled by a crooked colleague. Not the teenager who discovers that a night of romance has resulted in a surprise pregnancy. Not the pastor who feels his faith shaken by questions of suffering and fear.

We'd be foolish to think we are invulnerable. But we'd be just as foolish to think that evil wins the day.

The Bible vibrates with the steady drumbeat of faith: God recycles evil into righteousness. Perhaps you read this in search of a quick fix for your challenges. "How to Overcome Obstacles in Five Easy Steps." I don't have an easy solution or a magic wand. I have found something better - Someone - far better. God himself. When God gets in the middle of life, evil becomes good.