Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It’s a new day, and I’m armed and ready for whatever comes my way after my time with the Living God. Things beyond the view from this porch aren’t so beautiful sometimes, and I know that if I’m going to endure what He has for me to endure or if I’m going to bless a suffering soul, it always comes down to being One with Him. I don’t have it in me to run this race of Life alone. I’m equally yoked just like these mules are to successfully navigate my way through this life, AND I have HIM IN ME. With Him, there’s nothing I can’t do and no pain too great for me. I’m like a walking billboard for what Victory looks like, and I make sure that my world hears about the Power of my God day after day after day. Isn’t that the way you live out your Faith, too?

Nobody gets through this life without trials and tribulations, even though some would have you believe that they have. Some people hide their lives so far from the rest of the world and so deep within their hearts that it would take a sledgehammer to break them free. Some people don’t believe that our trials and tribulations are “anybody’s business,” as if people of Faith don’t have them and as if there’s some kind of shame if they do. Some people square their shoulders and walk around as if they’ve managed to escape the hardships, and some of them have even convinced themselves that God is showing more favor to them than He does the rest of us. But nobody escapes trials and tribulations in this life, ESPECIALLY if they’re going to be used by a Mighty God, because it’s the fire that refines the gold. Those trials and tribulations ALWAYS have a multi-faceted Purpose from a multi-faceted God, and they weren’t intended to be hidden behind closed doors. How can a Mighty God be glorified through secrets, and how can we offer Hope to a suffering soul unless they can see and hear about what God has done through our darkest hours?

The world beyond the front porch of this old farm is filled with trials and tribulations, and it sure would be easy to hunker down at the farm and to ignore the pain and the darkness of it all. But I wasn’t Created to hoard up or shut up, and neither were you. God didn’t accidentally place me in this life at just the right moment in time without Good reason, and He didn’t accidentally place you here without Good reason either. God doesn’t fill my world with just pleasurable things, and He won’t fill yours like that either (regardless of what some would have you believe). God hasn’t refined me through Fire without Good Reason or to torment me, and He hasn’t made a mistake or left His Throne when your life looks the same. Sometimes it takes a season to recover from the pain beyond the front porch, but it’s never OK to sit back and lick my wounds because of it. Instead, the hardness of my life has served to soften my Heart, and I’ve been Tenderized by the King for Good reasons beyond anything my human mind can comprehend. ALL things work together for Good….if we let them.

I don’t understand it all, but I DO understand that without Him I could do nothing. Without Him, I would have no Hope. Without Him, I wouldn’t know what Victory looks like. Without Him, my Heart wouldn’t have been softened for the Journey. So, from where I sit I know that all of those trials and tribulations Served a Purpose BEYOND me and my Life and I’m supposed to share with all those suffering souls…NOT to whine…to encourage…to offer Hope…to be a Living Testimony of the Power of a Mighty God! I’m what Victory looks like.

How about you?