Transformed by Trouble

I love The Purpose Driven Life! It is a totally awesome book in many ways. One woman used it in a crisis situation: She was being held hostage in her own apartment by a man with a gun who was running from the police. She told him that, If he was going to “send her home”, then she was going to tell him about God and began reading to him from The Purpose Driven Life. As he paced the floor and peaked outside the curtains at the police waiting below, she continued to read. Within a couple of hours he couldn’t take it anymore. He repented of what he was doing, committed his life to God, and then turned himself in!!! Sweet!

This book has also helped me. Last Friday, I had an absolutely horrid day because a bank took advantage of me. I’ve never had anything like this happen to me before, and I was so blown away by the experience. At this point, I picked up The Purpose Driven Life and happened to turn right to the chapter “Transformed by Trouble”. Everything that happens in life is “Father-filtered”, Rick Warren says. There is a reason God allowed this to happen. All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord, so that we might become more like Jesus. Jesus, Who was patient and at peace, and Who did the things He could according to the directions of the Father and then waited upon God and trusted Him to take care of the rest.

That’s just what I need to learn! Lately, I’ve been noticing how much I try to do things in my own power and stress out about the things beyond my control. I’m holding on too tightly in this life, and I need to wait on the Lord and trust Him to take care of things, even trusting God to help me do “my part” too. In that chapter, I found this verse From II Corinthians 1:9: “We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, Who alone could save us.”

Besides, God is a God of justice. So I know He will make things right sooner or later. :)