{"id":500,"date":"2020-07-09T14:58:43","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T21:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihsteps.com\/?p=500"},"modified":"2020-07-09T14:58:45","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T21:58:45","slug":"finding-god-in-the-midst-of-suffering-by-iris-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/?p=500","title":{"rendered":"Finding God in the Midst of Suffering By Iris Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the holidays behind us, we find ourselves looking forward to the new year,
and what it might bring. After all the gift wrapping, parties, dinners, opening of
presents, and all the blessings we receive, whether materially or physically and
even spiritually, it\u2019s for direction in the new year that we must pray. You see, I
believe God wants us to enjoy the life He\u2019s given to us. However, He wants us to
always put Him at the forefront in everything. If we put Him first and chase God\u2019s
desire for us and His purpose for our lives, the things we desire most will begin to
chase us. Everything we long for most (good health, sufficient finances, fulfilling
relationships, etc.) will gently fall into place in our lives according to His will, if we
do what Matthew 6:33-34 says:
\u201cBut seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things
will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious for tomorrow, for
tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.\u201d
(NAS)
We don\u2019t have to worry when we fall into trials, because the Bible promises that it
will all work for good. I know that God has a great purpose in all the tribulation we
go through. We are assured by His Word that it\u2019s always for a good reason:
\u201cAnd we know that God causes all things to work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose<\/em>.\u201d
(Romans 8:28, NAS)
Growing up Jewish, I remember a rabbi once saying that one of the greatest sins
we could commit is when we take God\u2019s grace and the life He\u2019s given us for granted.
We were taught as Jews to keep it simple. All that was required was to love God
and that God would take care of the rest:
\u201cAnd thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy might.<\/em>\u201d (Deuteronomy 6:5, KJV)
Oh, how complicated we can make it! When trials come our way, the first thing we
want to do is find a way out. We\u2019re out of our comfort zone, what do we do now?
Well, it\u2019s simple, my friend, just trust God. I know it\u2019s not easy, and I don\u2019t mean to
oversimplify it. However, I\u2019ve never known a time in my life when I found myself
disappointed if I trusted God, did what I could, and relied on Him for the rest. You
see, the only true happiness and contentment comes from spending time in God\u2019s
presence. This doesn\u2019t mean that God doesn\u2019t want to give us good things, He
certainly does, but let\u2019s not despise the blessing of learning and growing that
comes from those valley experiences in our lives. Remember, nothing can touch you
that God has not first ordained:
\u201cSo if you are suffering according to God\u2019s will, keep doing what is
right and trust yourself to the God Who made you, for He will never
fail you.\u201d (I Peter 4:19, NLT)
It\u2019s in those valley times that God does His greatest work in us. Remember, when
you\u2019ve come through that valley and have come to other side of the trial, there\u2019s
always a greater you than before:
\u201cBlessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been
approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has
promised to those who love Him<\/em>.\u201d (James 1:12, NAS)
It may not always feel like it at the time, but we always come out stronger, bolder,
more courageous, and certainly better equipped to do His will than before. So, do
what James 1:2-6 says:
\u201cConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let
endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and
complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him
ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and
it will be given to him.<\/em>\u201d (James 1:2-6, NAS)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God Bless, Iris<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the holidays behind us, we find ourselves looking forward to the new year,and what it might bring. After all the gift wrapping, parties, dinners, opening ofpresents, and all the blessings we receive, whether materially or physically andeven spiritually, it\u2019s for direction in the new year that we must pray. You see, Ibelieve God wants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-word-from-iris-fisher-smith","category-guest-writers","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=500"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions\/503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inhisstepsministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}