Last weeks Thanks Giving challenge with Shining Stars Magazine was titled 'Life experiences.' The goal was for people to comment and tell the things for which they were thankful for that had happened to them, be it good or bad, exciting or dull. It seems that sometimes when bad things happen to people, they turn around and blame God because they have been taught that God doesn't let bad things happen if you trust in him.

This is not true. Just because you excepted Yeshua as your Messiah doesn't mean that everything is going to be hunky dory. Yeshua told people to "pick up your execution stake and follow me!" So following Yeshua doesn't come without hardships! Satan is constantly trying to steal us away from him by tempting us to sin and betray Yeshua. Some people have died for Yeshua, for refusing to betray him. Almost all of the disciples were killed for following and believing Yeshua, and teaching his message.

James said, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." James 1:2-3

The word endurance means the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant of difficult process or situation without giving way.

When we are tested with trials, we know that they are for the glory of God and our own good. We will have the ability to endure in hard situations. So instead of turning on God and blaming him for our hardships, we should turn to him and pray for wisdom to know how to handle the situation. Sometimes God tests us to let us know that we have some junk in our lives that we need to clean out. Sometimes he wants us to learn something from our tests. Here's an example: If you pray for patience, God will probably give you a chance to be patient. Then you have two options. You can choose to be patient, or you can choose to fail the test and be impatient. Which one do you think God wants you to do?

Please comment and tell of a situation that was hard for you to walk through, or a test that God put you through. How did it help you? Was it eye opening? Did it help you to want to serve God more? Any body can comment. I greatly encourage you to share with us.

Emma