I Peter 1:6-7
“I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.”
“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold- though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
My faith, not my works or my possessions, pleases my Lord and defines me in eternity. He knows what it is now and what trial will make of it. I am the one who benefits from struggle, learning for myself what my faith is. God’s faithfulness to tend my faith like a garden means I can stand upon its growth as upon a rock, having experienced his presence along side me in difficult times. In this way his immense love works in every human heart that reaches toward him, preparing all for our existence in eternity. To the believer trial is not a curse, but unimaginable blessing.
Lord, thank you for my trials and the good things I’ve learned through them. You must be the focus of my struggles, not resentment towards those that occasioned them. Make me thankful for what you have done in my heart because of their actions. Show me how to pray for them that they may grow from people that hurt to those who heal.