Gracious in Times of Trials

Have you felt like everyone around you seems like to be throwing stones at you and that it seems everybody are bent on making see you miserable? I know?and I understand. I've been there, more than once, many times. Last night a precious sister was asking for advice on how she would handle the very exact situation. She feels persecuted on every side, by people whom she loves and trust. She was asking, "Why is it that those whom we love the most, hurt us the most?" Have you ever asked the same question? And did you understand the reason why it hurt so much? Last night I did.

Hearing my husband counsel this sister has opened my heart to understand more of God's boundless love and our limitations. We tend to react when are emotions are hurt, that we fail to see that we are letting the same people we love to hurt us more. It is within our power to limit the hurt that people can inflict upon us, by not letting them. We suffer only when we expect others to love us as much as we love them and people can only hurt us as much as we will allow them.

It is in times of great trials that we need to be more gracious, to be more understanding. Knowing that God love us even when we were yet sinners, we have caused Him so much pain, yet He did die for us. The grace He's given us is amazing, truly? Last night in my heart I finally came to understand how important it is to be gracious when we are hurting. The grace of God has led us to peace and joy and the same grace can lead us to a better path, a path where we don't need to justify ourselves and a path where we don't need to be like the others who fight back. We have been saved by grace, and only by grace can we show that we truly love the people who are hurting us.

Only by grace can we be at peace with ourselves in times of great trials and only by grace can we turn our "sorrow into joy". May we all find ourselves gracious in times of great troubles.

Ana Togonon is a work at home mom who has successfully shift from traditional 8-5 office work to home base working on freelance projects such as virtual assistance, article writing, article submission, and data entry. Ana is also an active member of http://believerscommunity.ning.com/profile/AnaTogonon and has her own website http://www.rev10/lifeinspirations that features inspirational stories and her life journey as a mother of 4 children and as a pastor's wife.