When life gets messy and ugly, and goes in the opposite direction from our dreams, we can really become worried, stressed and worked up! We lose patience and probably enter sleepless nights, trying to figure out what’s going to happen next. We think, This should not be so! And wonder what we should do. I have been guilty of this. God has had to test my faith many times to help me really witness and believe in His faithfulness in all things.
I hope this article will encourage and help you to enter into God’s rest too. And as I found out, resting in GOD doesn’t actually mean doing nothing or lying down and relaxing. God’s rest is from the inside: it is the peace of God that lasts no matter the storms in your life; this peace is within you and so you are at rest in God’s presence.
If you are in a season of testing, struggles and trials right now, believe me, God will do something big in your life!
If your dream seems like it is running away from you, don’t even believe it! Look upon the One who gave His one and only Son for your sake, the One who shed His blood on the cross just so you could gain eternal life and inherit the whole of God’s Kingdom. God didn’t do this just to leave you stuck somewhere in this life.
I am saying this because I have witnessed God’s faithfulness in this certain area of my life. He answered both my wants and needs: I needed finances to support our church, the kids’ ministry, and of course, myself and future family.
I have experienced people looking down at me and my husband many times because we are church workers. One time, we were so hungry that we didn’t eat because we had no money; this combined with what people were saying about us.
At that point, I came to realize that something wasn’t right—no, not with those people but with this kind of faith! I realized that if my Father in heaven is so rich, why would His children suffer in this way? From that point on, I learned to actually live my identity in Christ: I am the King’s daughter!
So, over four months, I went looking for a full-time job that would not affect my calling as full-time church worker. Is that even possible?
With God all things are possible
In that span of four months, I honestly felt I could not connect to God anymore because my mind was so filled with jobs. With what was happening inside me, I only had one choice—to keep trusting in God. If He could raise Lazarus from the dead, then He could definitely restore my spirit.
To cut the long story short, an employer told me, “If God says hire this person, we just obey.” I landed a job with an amazing boss who works for God’s Kingdom, a kind of job in which God’s Word could be my everyday spiritual food, working at my own schedule and paid with my desired salary—full-time! God showed me His faithfulness in terms of finances that would support His Kingdom works and just be a blessing! When God restores, He does it as He did to Job, “twice as much as before!” (Job chapter 42, verse 10)
So I learned that trusting in God should be the first thing you do—always and every time! It spares you from unnecessary anxieties and stresses.
No matter what is happening, know that God won’t ever fail you. And remember who you are, you are a child of the living God!
"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah chapter 32, verse 27)