{"id":903,"date":"2019-05-01T02:49:20","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T02:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/?p=903"},"modified":"2020-04-17T00:06:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T00:06:26","slug":"4-next-steps-youre-walking-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2019\/05\/4-next-steps-youre-walking-trials.html","title":{"rendered":"4 Next Steps When You’re Walking Through Trials"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"unsplash-logoDaria
Daria Magazzu<\/span><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because we live in a fallen world, pain and suffering are unavoidable for us as humans. If you’d like to wrestle with the question of why bad things happen to good people, read here<\/a>. If you’d like to explore how the Apostle Peter reconciled a good God with pain and suffering, read here<\/a>. For this post, I want to give you four next steps if you’re currently walking through painful trials:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/b>1. Know that God <\/b><\/span>grieves<\/b><\/span> with you.\u00a0<\/b><\/span>When a child is hurt, you naturally grieve with them.\u00a0<\/span>Even when they do something to hurt themselves and it\u2019s their fault, you still grieve with them.\u00a0<\/span>What about when you allow something to happen to your child that causes them pain? Don’t you still grieve with them? God is a good, loving Heavenly Father and God grieves with you when you hurt.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/b>2. Seek the <\/b><\/span>purpose<\/b><\/span> behind the <\/b><\/span>pain.\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Instead of assuming God can\u2019t be good because there is pain and suffering in the world, a better question would be: what\u2019s the purpose behind it all? <\/i>I counseled with a father years ago who left his adult son in jail for weeks when he could have bailed him out because he needed his son to understand the full weight of the consequences of his poor life choices, or he would never change. The son couldn’t fully understand it at the time, but there was a greater purpose behind the pain his father was allowing him to go through.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/b>3. Cling to the <\/b><\/span>cross. <\/b>My\u00a0<\/b>youngest son\u00a0is<\/span>\u00a0at the age where he\u2019s testing boundaries, and every once in a while he needs discipline and even a spanking. T<\/span>here are times when I intentionally inflict pain on him through a\u00a0spanking\u00a0for a greater purpose, to teach him, to correct him, to warn him against doing something worse that could bring him greater harm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever I have to spank him, it brings tears to his eyes, and his first instinct, without even thinking, is to hug me. Even though I seem to be the cause of his pain, he needs to know that I still love him.\u00a0<\/span>When we walk through trials, when we see evil all around us and we can\u2019t compute, it shouldn\u2019t drive us farther away, it should drive us closer to God. We need to embrace him and know that he still loves us.\u00a0<\/span>So, if you ever doubt God\u2019s love for you, look to the cross. Don\u2019t sanitize it. Don\u2019t whitewash it.\u00a0Allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the pain and suffering Jesus went through, and know that your sins are what caused it, and know that God loved you so much, he still sent Jesus to die on the cross for you.\u00a0<\/span>Any time you doubt God\u2019s love for you, look to the cross.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/b>4. Look ahead to the day when <\/b><\/span>pain will cease.\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Sometimes life just stinks. That\u2019s why\u00a0the apostle Peter pointed<\/a> Christians to heaven. There will be a day when pain will cease.\u00a0<\/span>As much pain and evil as we see in the world, it is temporary. This world is not our home. We\u2019re going to a better place, and in that we can rejoice!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you’d like to connect and see more of the content I’m working on, be sure to like my church Facebook page<\/a>. You can also find me on social media: Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and YouTube<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because we live in a fallen world, pain and suffering are unavoidable for us as humans. If you’d like to wrestle with the question of why bad things happen to good people, read here. If you’d like to explore how the Apostle Peter reconciled a good God with pain and suffering, read here. For this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[395,394,27,393,65,3,250,103],"class_list":["post-903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-next-steps","tag-cross","tag-evil","tag-god","tag-good","tag-jesus","tag-next-steps","tag-pain","tag-suffering"],"yoast_head":"\n4 Next Steps When You're Walking Through Trials - Next Steps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you're walking through the midst of pain and suffering, here are four next steps you can begin to take.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2019\/05\/4-next-steps-youre-walking-trials.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 Next Steps When You're Walking Through Trials - 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