For When We Aren’t Sure What God is Doing {Grace & Truth}

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of emails from women in crisis, wondering what God is doing? How will He get us through this pain? This hurt? This rejection? This fire

Rarely do I have great answers. I don’t pretend to know.

But, I know how to love a hurting heart. 

I know how to speak to pain.

I know how to pray for the distraught.

And I know the God Who will carry you and me through whatever we are going through.

I know we can trust Him and that He has a greater plan than we could ever imagine.

You see, when we are going through the trials of life, being baked in God’s oven, as Melanie Redd says, we come out of that time with a “sweet aroma” about us. A testimony like we have never had before. With that testimony we can then proclaim even more of His goodness and hope to those who need to hear it.

Second Corinthians 2:15 says, “We are a sweet smell of Christ that reaches up to God. It reaches out to those who are being saved from the punishment of sin and to those who are still lost in sin.”

1 Peter 5:10 reminds us:

“And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace,

who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself

restore,

support,

strengthen,

and establish you.”

It is after the baking of a cake that we appreciate the aroma the most. It is after the baking of the bread that we enjoy the decadent smells. It is after the hot water brews the coffee, that we relish the flavor.

After.

So what is God “baking” in you today? What trial is He using today to mold and shape you in that sweet aroma He wants to find in you?

In me He is working humility and confidence. An odd paring, maybe, but it makes perfect sense to me.

I am being stretched to rest in the fact that He is fighting for me and all I need to do is remain confident in His ability to do so. It’s not a “look at me” kind of confidence.

It’s a deep-in-my-soul, nothing-can-shake-me kind of confidence. You know the kind. It’s called a quiet confidence.

Then the humility part… Knowing the Lord will fight for me is teaching me that it is okay to not protect my rights or my reputation. I have no need to become defensive or protective of how people see me, because I know how He sees me.

This confidence in Him, frees me to walk a humble life before the Lord. 

No time of pain and trial is in vain when it works humility and a greater confidence in the Lord. I wrote a bit about what that looks like lived out.  You can find it here: http://www.satisfactionthroughchrist.com/2015/10/pride-in-a-heart.html

[bctt tweet=”No time of pain and trial is in vain when it works humility and a greater confidence in the Lord.”]

I encourage you to read Melanie’s post I mentioned earlier. I love the analogy she drew from a recipe called “Dump Cake” and how sometimes it feels like life just “dumped” a lot of crud on us.

Go read it. It’s powerful. Let it speak to your heart. Click here.

Melanie, please grab the featured button and share on your blog! Thank you for sharing your reflections in this post. They were a huge blessing to me!

<div align="center"><a href="https://kayleneyoder.com" title="Kaylene Yoder"><img src="https://kayleneyoder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/GraceTruth-Featured.png" alt="Kaylene Yoder" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement each and every week.  If you’re a blogger our hope is that you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader our hope is that you’ll meet new bloggers that love Jesus just as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

YOUR HOSTS

Satisfaction Through Christ
BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER |G+

Kaylene Yoder
BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

The Brown Tribe
BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Arabah Joy
BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST | G+

A Divine Encounter
BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | G+ | STUMBLEUPON

Being Confident of This
BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Busy Being Blessed
BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Sharing Redemption’s Stories
BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

1.) Follow your hosts via their blog and/or social media channels. This is not mandatory, but appreciated!

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. Links of this kind will be deleted. We also reserve the right to delete posts that don’t align with the theme or that are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community, so please don’t link and run!

4.) All links are randomly sorted – feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

In order to be featured next week:

5.) Grab a button or link back to encourage new linkers. This is not mandatory to participate, but is required to be featured. 

6.) Each host will choose one link to feature and promote via their social media channels next week. 

7.) By linking up you agree to allow the hosts to use your featured post image if you are chosen as a feature for next week. By linking up and leaving your email address, you also agree to receive e-mails relating to Grace and Truth.

Grab A Button

<div align="center"><a href="https://kayleneyoder.com" title="Kaylene Yoder"><img src="https://kayleneyoder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Grace-Truth-button-size.jpg" alt="Kaylene Yoder" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Join the link-up below!