Seasons of the rain a time to grow

Adversity 

The broken are good ministers. If we obtain the energy that we get from pain and channel it to do good we usually achieve a lot. The influence we may have on others may be because of the pain that we have experienced. 

we all go through pain or adversity. whether it be the loss of a loved one, failure in some undertaking, betrayal, humiliation, loss of property and earthly possessions, diseases, accidents and even retaliation from those who we had wronged. 

Though in itself pain is not a good thing all pain can result in goodness in own lives. How can this be? You ask. Well, pain and especially emotional pain usually requires us to respond, in a way that neutralizes or nullifies it. Naturally we are uncomfortable with the concept of pain. The reason may be because we were never meant to live with pain in the first place.  When going through pain we are predisposed to react in the negative.It is very easy to be bitter after a loss of some sort, it is very easy to be angry, and it takes no effort to hate because that is our nature. 

We can also decide to act  positively and forgive or accept or just not be bitter not complain. The result of being positive in spite of what we are going through is a stronger individual who is able to encourage others, influence them and even change. This does not come easy and it takes time. The story of Nelson Mandela can never be emphasized. After being imprisoned for 26years he chose to forgive and (not remember) all the pain caused on him. Though Mandela only ruled South Africa for one term of five years, he is the only president whose birthday is celebrated world over. His greatest asset being that he decided to forgive those who detained him and even work with them. In spite of South Africa not really being  a significant player in the world scene, being a third world country and also in spite of the fact that we have host of former presidents of the United States whose elections are often very significant and watched world over, and also the US being the most powerful country in the world both economically and militarily. we currently have no American president being influential after they have served their terms.

What makes Mandela be so celebrated, so revered, so well appreciated, so influential? Is it not seasons of pain that he went through? Pain has a way of producing good if we decide not to wallow in the agony of the pain. most of us would usually prefer vengeance when wronged. ‘’An eye for an eye’’ but one man added ‘’would make the whole world blind’’ so it is with any kind of vengeance towards those who wrong us.

The scriptures say ‘’A friend is for all seasons… proverbs 17:17 when in pain we come to know those who we can lean on. Those who love us for who we are and not because we look good or we are in good positions or because we earn a lot of cash or because of the way we look like or where we are from.

During days of adversity we get a different perception of what the world is like. In seasons of victory  and success our perceptions are often flippant and sometimes even shallow. We sometimes have a carefree attitude. Without adversity we can become proud, shallow, irresponsible and very small minded. People who have had it right from the time they were born may sometimes lack the depth to understand the deeper issues of life. Sometimes in their hedonistic tendencies they end up becoming a liability to themselves and even their families. 

 Going through pain humbles us shapes us to be better people  helps us to be more compassionate and to develop a deeper outlook towards life. I may only add if we let it. The wisest individuals, the nicest people the most understanding people are sometimes people shaped by adversity positively who  have learnt to let the pain create better people out of them and thus they affect the world in a better way.

Growth in Adversity

The moment we start accepting that adversity as a way of life and not always  try to fight it. The moment we allow our egos to be battered and not fret every time we are hurt. The moment we learn that we are not the only ones going through this pain this is the moment we learn that " the pain will not kill us but make us stronger". Not only this But the pain will draw us closer to God than any other thing.

 There have been individuals who went through some form of pain and live all their lives glorifying the pain they went through. Almost believing that their pain is a badge of honor that should be carried and flaunted around. That the pain they have been through seems incomparable and thus everybody should acknowledge them since it is them who have the right to complain. This often seems interesting to listen to in the beginning but becomes very irritating after sometime. These individuals have not grown from the pain because instead of glorifying the pain. they have been consumed by it, possibly carrying a lot of bitterness. Pain can sometimes make us bitter and angry throwing our lives to the wind. This can result in us making very radical albeit  poor decisions that could cost us. 

This does not mean that it is wrong to tell people  what we have been though. There is a place for us sharing.

How do we grow in pain? We do so when we do not let the adversity consume us. When we allow the pain to teach us and we learn from the lesson. It is good to mourn. One should never be dissuaded from doing this, but moving on it is also important because in spite of the pain  and no matter how big, we have a life to live. 
The loss of a loved one shows us our fallibility, Betrayal teaches that those who we have around us are human and they can make mistakes just like we do. From the disappointments in our lives we learn that  we will not always win. We are human , we can learn from any and everything around if we are patient and wise enough: adversity is not an exception.

Going through a painful situations may help us to understand obtain an outlook of life that we would never really have if everything went our way always. There are lessons we should  learn from others mistakes but others we  may just have to learn from our own. 

   Adversity is the hardest experience anyone will go through. Pain is real and nothing compares to having faced it. It is important not to trivialize it, neither should we glorify it. Adversity; hard as it is, is part of life. It is guaranteed that most of us if not all will at one time or another will go through difficult and painful situations. One needs all the support one can get in case of great losses. Ultimately our greatest source of strength will come from how we deal with the pain. We need to know, this and live not with trepidation and anxiety of pain but wish an expectation of sorts that one time we will have to go through it. It does not have to be a great loss though.

We all need to know that we will face pain at one time in our lives. Some of us  have to learn that we are not immune to pain. We need to learn that we are never  alone. even when we have convinced our minds otherwise. We need to learn that the pain will end and that we have learn to maintain a positive  outlook even in the middle of the pain.

We need to know that though adversity may not be a good experience it may result in our good. We have to know that our attitude towards it is very important. ‘’Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude towards it and that determines our success or failure (John Maxwell).

 God may sometimes bring people in our lives to share the pain with us. They may not be the kind of  people  we consider ideal but they will be helpful if we let them.

We also  need to know that there are people who will take advantage of our sharing  with them and use it against us. Not everybody who looks trustworthy is trustworthy. We have to take that risk anyway.

We need to know that sharing eases lot of the burden rather than just sucking of up and trying to move on shedding tears is OK but ultimately we will have to move on.

We also need to know that those who we share with may not always have the right answers. In fact most people we share our feelings with may not really have the answers. We also have to know that there are people who will offer answers that we do not really want to hear and may in effect decide to act against them. sometimes these are the answers we need to hear but cannot due to the sense of loss and poor judgment at the time. In  the end of the day we will discover that they were right all along. 

During adversity our sense of justice is misplaced, our judgment may be biased and so our decisions may often be very much influenced by our feelings. It is very important to have somebody around who we can trust who is not going through the same feelings to help us in making the right decisions.

We also need to know that there is a God who cares in spite of our feelings he can make a difference if we let him. It may not be obvious at first but we will see this later. The most important fact to keep in mind in spite of all the emotions overwhelming us and all the evidence that seems to be on the contrary is that: There is A God and He cares.

‘Thought that I was all alone broken and afraid’ but you were there with me, yes you were there with me… As I didn’t even know that I had cost my way but  you were there with me yes you were there with me…’’ Third day –Mountain of God (artist –musician).

God and Adversity

                  It is so easy to tell people to trust God when they have issues that are bogging them down. This is especially true when we are not going through the same. Often wonder why it is so easy for fans in a football match to see the mistakes the players are making and not the players themselves? One way of understanding the game is playing the game. After taking 90 minutes trying to chase a ball and doing other things like marking an opponent who  is so eager to avoid you and you trying to avoid your opponent when you have the ball, you come to realize that playing football is not as easy as it looks. I am very sure you will have a very different point of view from what you had before. You will come to appreciate the moves made by players much more and understand the mistakes when they happen.

                This same principle could be applied when seeking God during trying moments. It is only those who have been through these moments who understand the agony that an individual goes through even when seeking after God. There are questions we want answered. Issues we wish to resolve, tears we want to shed but in spite of all our workings we feel short of expectations we have set for ourselves. It feels like we are groping in the dark with hurting tentacles trying to get a way out. It almost feels like being trapped in a dungeon and the only way out is to burrow through the walls with our bare knuckles.

‘’Lord you seem so far away, a million miles or more, it seems today. But though I haven’t lost my faith I must confess right now that its hard for me to pray…..’’(Don Moen)

“I was sure by now God you would have reached down and wiped our tears away. Stepped in and faced the day. But once again I say Amen but it still raining...” (Casting Crown)

If you sought after God during trying times you can almost relate with the words written. Prayer seems like the last thing on our minds yet we must pray. We ask so many question and wish for so many things to be made right. Sometimes the adversity could lead to depression; this in turn could lead to us harming ourselves.

If the adversity we have is not dealt with well then sometimes there are long term consequences. Some people have been drawn to God during adversity others have been drawn away from God during times of adversity. 

                  We ask ourselves questions like  “if God really is in charge how could He allow this to happen?”

Or “How is this thing going to be for my own good?” we can barely see beyond what is happening in our lives. This is when we begin to find reasonable doubt as to the existence of God. Things like “It is God’s will that whatever thing happened to me” make no sense. Atheists on some occasions are individuals who have given up on the existence of God simply because they cannot make sense of a good God who allows evil. Sometimes when someone asks “How could God propagate genocide as it happened in the Old Testament and yet claim to be loving? They are in effect asking more than just what happened in the Old Testament. They are looking at what is happening now and in turn questioning if God is really in control of the situation. If this person could be more honest he/she would be asking questions like “How does this God who claims to love me allow things in my life that took place? How could he say that he loves me and yet he was so indifferent when I sought him in my pit of shame and distress? Did he take into account the number of fastings I made for him to answer my call and heal my spouse/parent/sibling/friend/ child? How is it that my neighbor keeps on talking about God coming through for them yet I can see by the life they are living that they are not living right? Does it mean then that God already has his own people that no matter what some of us do we will never be accepted?

                     Some conclusions can be made during these times that make more sense to those hurting than it does to those who are not. “It is better to live with the thought that there is no God than to think that there is a God who cannot answer me, does not care about me and has his favorites. (if we study the book of Genesis 3 when Eve was being tempted we come to learn that becoming an atheist is the result of agreeing with the devil that God does not care for us as much as He says he does and that we have got to take care of ourselves) Thus an atheist is born.

             Trusting  God even when going through adversity can be a huge task. It not only involves overcoming our thoughts of sorrow but also suggestions that God is not in charge of the situation as He claims to be. It is overcoming the fear that has filled our minds that if we do not do anything then we are doomed. Resisting the urge to complain when it is the only thing we want to do. When every word in the scripture fails to make sense in the situation we are facing, we still decide to profess it as true.. When we feel like throwing the towel and just getting back at anyone and everyone who made us feel the way we do (including God) we hold back.