Long time no blog!

It's been forever since I last wrote! For the past couple weeks I've actually been busy, which has been such a nice change of pace!

This past weekend I got the chance to go to Houston, which was SO much fun! My main purpose was to attend the FUMC Grad banquet, but along the way I got to see a lot of friends that I haven't seen in SO long, years in some cases! It was so amazing getting the chance to catch up with everyone. I can't believe my gangsters are graduating!! Time flies by so quickly.

The semester is coming to a close, and it's so strange to not have finals or spend all my waking hours studying...wish I was though, as strange as that sounds. But next semester I'll be back! My surgery is now only 4 days away, and I'm now being faced with the reality of the situation and am being presented with all the feelings I've been repressing for all this time. But the Vertical lesson Afshin taught a couple weeks ago helped a lot, so now I will share it with you, in the hopes that it will help you wherever you are.

John 11:1-6,12-44
I Am the Ressurection and the Life

In verse 4 Jesus says that Lazarus' sickness will not end in death, but it is so that the Lord can be glorified through it. That gives me great comfort in a way, that although I have to deal with extra things everyday, that but God will somehow be glorified through it. I am just a small piece of the bigger picture that will lead to His glory. He's just doing something bigger than I can see.

I think it's really easy a lot of times during hard times to blame God. I've heard several times from non-Christians that one reason they don't believe is because if God is so loving, why does He allow bad things to happen to good people? And as Christians, I think a recurring thought process during these trials is "Why doesn't He love me enough to make this go away?" When in reality He does love us, so, so much even in the midst of hard times.

So, let's look at it...

Why doesn't He take me out of this immediately?
God doesn't work on my time table.

Why is God loving when He holds back?
If life were easy, we'd have no need for Him...and when we live for Him our lives have meaning because He is glorified and we are fulfilling our purpose.
When I go through hard times, God is allowing me to be a part of His glory.
Going through trials increases our faith

An interesting thing Afshin said that I never knew before was when he was talking about verse 33 it says that Jesus is "deeply moved" by his friend's death. Afshin said that this word they use several times in the New Testament, but it is always in a different connotation. It's used always in agitation, or when Jesus is scolding someone...yet it's used here, after his friend has died. Why is Jesus so angry? The text says after that, that his spirit was troubled. He's angry that his friend has died and that death is a part of our lives. We weren't meant to be on this Earth to eventually die, death came as a result of sin. In the garden God said if they ate from the tree
they would surely die. Death came because we veered off from the His perfect plan.

Lazarus went through a huge trial, and because of how God was glorified through the circumstances, more people followed Christ. So through your trials in life, you never know how God is going to be glorified.


It is so easy to read those verses and remember how Afshin described God's glory in these awful situations and say that I will live my life like that. But do I? Do I wake up every morning and trust that no matter what bad things are happening in my life, that God will make it worth it? As my surgery comes closer and closer, it's really easy for me to get anxious and scared about the pain that is about to come, and the long recovery time. But I know that God will be glorified through these trials in my life, and I will come out on the other side stronger and more grounded in my faith....if I allow Him to move in me.

Are you letting Him work through your trials??