Today’s Bread ~ Growing Pains

Deuteronomy 8:2 – Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would really obey His commands.

My first real experience with conflict (that I can recall) was in the fourth grade.  I was close friends with a girl named Kelly.  We had a ball, playing, laughing, and giggling about boys.  Then one day, Kelly stopped speaking to me.  Try as I might to understand why, she never told me.  The friendship simply came to a frosty end.

In high school, my family moved to Highlands Ranch, Colorado in the middle of my sophomore year.  Knowing no one and wanting to be involved, I tried out for the annual spring musical.  That year, it happened to be Into the Woods, and I landed one of the leading roles.  I took to the theatre teacher/director immediately.  He was warm and funny; tough but supremely talented.  The show was a smashing success.

In the fall, rather than audition for the drama, I opted to try something else.  I recall bumping into the director in the hall, and feeling stunned when my cheerful greeting was met with a frosty glare.  When spring rolled around once again, I uncertainly entered the theatre to try out for the show.  Although I was one of the first to sign in, I was the last to read and sing for a part.  I didn’t even make the chorus.

I graduated the University of Kansas with a degree in broadcast journalism and an audition reel that included both radio and television reporting from the NBC affiliate in Topeka, KS, but couldn’t find a job to save my life.  Every door I knocked on stayed shut.

It was a failed relationship that brought me to Texas.

It was a boss’s bad side that moved me from one radio station to 96.3 KSCS, where I joined the Dorsey Gang.

It was sharp conviction that moved me from a cushy morning show job to ministry.

God has a plan for your life.  It is a good plan, a perfect plan.  And it does involve conflict.

Acts 7:59-8:1,4 – And as they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  And he fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!”  And with that, he died.  (8:1,4)  A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles fled into Judea and Samaria.  But the believers who fled Jerusalem went everywhere preaching the Good News about Jesus.

God does not purpose evil.  But nothing happens without His permission, and He will certainly use trials and difficulties to further His plan.

He used the stoning of Stephen to start His church.

He used Paul’s imprisonment to bring the guards to salvation.

He used the crucifixion of the only sinless man in the history of the world to woo you into His arms.

Deuteronomy 8:6-7 – “So obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him.  For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with springs that gush forth in the valleys and hills.”

What are you facing right now?  Light rain?  Storms?  A hurricane?  Jesus Himself told His disciples to expect trials and tribulation (John 16:33).  Are you sailing on smooth waters or rough seas?  Know this: God loves you with an everlasting, unfailing love (Jeremiah 31:3).  You are never far from His thoughts or out of His sight.  He counts the stars in the sky and the hairs on your head.  You are precious to Him; more precious than the blood of His only Son.  But He is far more interested in your eternal salvation than your immediate comfort.

My first official DJ job was at 99.5 the Wolf in Dallas/Fort Worth.  I had only three or four shifts under my belt when my boss, Smokey Rivers, called me into his office.  He popped a cassette (yes, it was that long ago) into his tape player and let it roll.

It was me.  And it was awful.

He let it go through four or five breaks before stopping it and turning to me.  “Well,” he said, “what do you think?”

All I could manage was “Ummmm….”

He proceeded to pick it apart in excruciating detail.  An hour and a half later I left with my tail between my legs and any sense of pride I might’ve had destroyed.

Guess what happened next?  I improved.  Quickly.  They don’t call them growing pains for nothing.

God used the Wolf to prep me for a morning show, and a morning show to prep me for the next step.  None of it was comfortable.

Is He challenging you?  Stretching you?  Have faith that the One who started this good work in you will not fail to finish it (Philippians 1:6).  Cling tightly to Him.  We don’t need to fear tomorrow when we trust the One who holds it.

Jeremiah 32:41-42 – I will rejoice in doing good to them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.  Just as I have sent all these calamities upon them, so I will do all the good I have promised them.  I, the LORD, have spoken!

Dear Heavenly Father, we love You, and we thank You for this day.  We thank You for every breath You give us, for every breath is a gift.  Some of us are coasting easily right now, but some of us are in a season conflict or confusion.  Please comfort us.  Please remind of the work on the cross, and what it means; that we have an empathetic advocate in Jesus.  Help us to remember that not even Jesus was spared betrayal, humiliation, pain, grief, and ultimately, death.  Gently remind us that everything we face, He has faced.  Lord, we ask You for strength.  We ask You for perseverance and self-control.  We pray for understanding, and that You would enable us to trust You more.  As we walk with You, multiply our faith exponentially and allow us to fully experience You.  Bless us, God, and help us to be a blessing to others.  Show us how to grow from our struggles.  Give us a heavenly perspective, rather than a worldly one.  We love You so much, and we pray these things in the beautiful, precious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.