Adversity

December 18, 2016

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Adversity
                                                                                                               
My name is Kimberley. I am the Discipleship Coach for Rapha Ministries World. The Lord has opened the door
for me to start this blog. I have been discipling woman through many different situations. I have seen His hand work to save, break bondages, search hearts to reveal the root of issues that keeps us from living a full joyful life in Christ. Through this blog I want
to show Christ in our everyday lives and through every situation we find ourselves. My desire is for you, the reader, to experience through the words God gives me that nothing is impossible with Him, He has a mighty hand that works in His children's lives each day. I pray you enjoy following my blogs and may the Lord lift you up in Him.

I thought with Christmas right around the corner that I would start with the babe in a manger, God in flesh. But as I prayed about what to write, I felt God leading in a different direction. I look around at people and see the lives lived and I seem to see a common theme...adversity. This is all around us everyday and takes on many different faces. This adversity can rob us of joy, peace, comfort and cause life to be absolutely miserable. It causes us to not be comfortable in our comfort entitled world. But, as sincere believers in a mighty Sovereign God should we be beat down? allow our joy to be lost? no! we should be joyful! That's crazy you say? no, not at all!

Let's look at the life of Paul, his was a life of adversity, but he counted it all joy! Why? Because he knew where his strength came from. It wasn't a strength like the world knows strength, his was a strength that comes from Almighty God. Paul knew that no matter what he found himself going through like beatings, starvation, imprisonment and disease, he knew he was being sustained by God.

When we walk through adversity we tend to want to look inward and feel sorry for ourselves. Instead we need to lift up our eyes to God Who is the glory and the lifter of our heads. A lot of times our adversity is being used to witness to others. When believers go through trials, all around us the world is watching to see how we conduct ourselves. As Paul was in prison he was able to minister the Gospel to the whole roman guard.

I say that it's not what we go through, but how we go through adversity. Not only is our walk through adversity for others as a witness, but God is also doing a work in us if we continue to stay before Him on our knees surrendering the whole situation to Him and let Him fight out battles. If we do this we will come out of each trial stronger in our faith and deeper in our walk with God. We can be joyful in this life that is riddled with adversity, we can be 'sorrowful yet rejoicing' when God is our stay.

James 1:2-4...Consider it all joy my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have it's perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

In Christ,

K. Shaune White

Soli Deo Gloria! (soley to the Glory of God)          Respond to this blog at... discipleshipcoach1@gmail.com