The Gift

I wanted to share my notes on another analogy from the session I went to the other night...

How often I have prayed and said, "God, make me more like You."

All acts of God in my life are to be considered blessings. And if they are blessings, I cannot question the measure by which God chooses to bless in order to sanctify me and make me more like Him. Especially if I have asked Him to mold me and make me into His likeness.

The speaker recounted the way a gentleman put it after receiving the news that his wife had cancer for the third time... I look at it this way. God goes into His storeroom of blessings and very thoughtfully handpicks the gift or blessing that He deems His best for me or my wife because He loves us so much. He considers our background, experiences, personalities, and so on, and then chooses the gift that will best get us to the place He wants us to go, in order to be more like Him. Because there are so many factors, my gift may look far different than my wife's, my friend's, my neighbor's. I know that suffering is something we are invited to and that it's meant to purge us of sin and filth as a process of sanctification. When God chooses to try us in the fire it is to prove whether or not our faith is authentic. In all things, praise be to God!

Can you picture it? God going into a storeroom of blessings - I see beautifully wrapped gifts - choosing the ones that best suit me. The ones that through my suffering will bring Him the most glory and prove my faith authentic. Yes, I know there may be some tough days, but the point is for my faith to endure. I see that as pulling through those tough days eventually with a renewed sense of hope and strength and trust in the Lord. The ability to praise my Jesus in the storm...and thank Him for the gift.