Hello Family, just wanted to give you one more bit of advice concerning beginning anew. This advice, I’m sure you’ve heard before—you have to change your mindset. You sure do! It’s the only way to change your life.

 

After you’ve gone through so much heartache and turmoil, you are grateful to be free from it, but you might tend to walk away from the ordeal quite nervous about the future. Why? Because you don’t know where to begin. Everything that was familiar to you is now gone or different, so different that you almost don’t recognize your own life. Nothing is the same, and neither are you.

 

The Bible says, in First Peter 1:7 (TLB), “These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return.”

 

This test of our faith is the way God is able to see where we are in our faith with Him. When you come through the trial, you will notice a few differences about the way you see life. Most people are humbled afterward, most people are more dependent on God for restoration and recovery than they were before and during the trial, and most people are so grateful that everyday they wake up is a day to give God praise.

 

After my trial season was over, I noticed that my gratitude for God saving me physically was so profound, it was the catalyst for me giving my life to Christ, which helped me to receive the gift of eternal life. I knew it was not an accident that I was still alive! It had to be the will of God! There was a time during the end of my trial season when I cried out to God, “Lord, I’m tired, and I can’t do this anymore!” I didn’t want to die, but I no longer had the strength to live.

 

It was after that honest declaration that I felt God take me up in His strength and walk me right out of the trial season. I couldn’t get out on my own. Years later, the Lord told me, “You didn’t get down by yourself, so you would not be able to get up by yourself. It took a spirit (the Devil) to bring you down, it had to take the Greater Spirit (Jesus) to pick you up.”

 

I was so grateful He said that to me, because for years I thought I had caused the devastation to my own life. But no, it was a season of testing my faith. I told you before that I had made an internal dedication to serve God, it was while I was in a religious organization. My heart was in the right place, but I wasn’t in the right place. I don’t know how I passed the test, but I do remember that the test ran me straight into the Arms of God. All I knew was to turn to Him completely and totally. I didn’t know the Bible, I only knew one scripture, but from my prior experiences with God I knew that anytime I needed help I could call on Him. So I did!

 

Afterward, He was the same person who helped repair my shattered life in His righteous way. It took years for God to get me to where He needed me to be, but the journey was worth it. Looking back now, I realize that God was attempting to save me all along. For years, I went to church services from time to time, but I didn't show consistency or achieve much. I had started attending a religious organization which was constantly bashing the Church. I believe the trial season was sent to redirect me back to God for a personal relationship where He would become my guiding light, my strength, my Savior and Friend.

 

This is a hard season, but if you give all that you are over to the Lord, you will not regret it. First Peter 5:6 (NIV) employs us to, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

 

After you turn yourself over to His care, He then becomes responsible for your life and the outcomes. To me this was a most needed gift, because my life before the trial was horrible. I just thought it was good because I was making a little money. But the truth was; I desperately needed God’s intervention.

 

During my trial season, I knew I was being attacked, but I had no way to fight back. Jesus stepped in to be my Defender, then He took over as my Healer, then He became my Redeemer, and from there He became my Strength, and the “Friend that sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

 

This season will change you, but you will also need to change your mindset about your relationship with God, your life, your focus, your interest and even your relationships with others. After you get through this test, you will be able to be better molded in God’s will. Don’t fight the process. Isaiah 64:8 (NIV) reminds us: “Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

 

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) states, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

 

This is God’s ultimate goal in addition to saving us so that we can spend all eternity with Him. I encourage you not to try to return to your old way of living, it was very much flawed in some way. After God delivers you, He will re-establish you, but not in the way you are accustomed to living. A new way of living requires trust in God and a new mindset for growth and development. You won’t know all the details upfront, but God will let you know every step you need to take and when, if you will seek Him, constantly. Some days, it will seem like He is not answering you, but in that time, He is working on the answer to your prayer. When God is listening to you, you will hear His response to you, but when He is working for you, He will be silent. Don’t get discouraged, just do what He told you to do, and leave His work for Him to do. Together, you will see your life change and become something you never could have imagined or designed yourself. 

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Prayer:

Father, please bless my journey to help me to draw near to You. Please cover me and my family in Your protection.  Please help me to hear You when You call to me and when I pray to You. I give you all of me, for all of You. Strengthen me in Your good and perfect will and way. I am Yours to lead, guide and love. Forgive me for any sins and thank You for saving me, even from myself. In the name of Jesus, amen.