The most important lesson I've learned in life is to trust God in every circumstance.
Have you ever asked God to change your circumstance? Have you ever prayed for God to take away the cancer diagnosis of a close family member? Or to change your parents divorce? How about asking him to bring the guy who broke your heart back to you? Or for him to bring you a boyfriend, in general?
I think it's easy for us to want to change our circumstance, especially when that circumstance is causing us pain, confusion, or frustration. But, have you ever thought about the fact that ....
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God isn't in the business of changing your circumstance -- he's trying to change your heart through the circumstance.
Think about that - has there been a time in your life that you just knew you would never make it through? I know for me, I've had a couple of those trying times in my life. The first was when my relationship of four years ended and I prayed that God would bring this boy back to me. I prayed in confusion of why God would create this circumstance in my life when I'd been nothing but good for this boy. And the second time was when it seemed like I was working so hard in college and for some reason, I just couldn't seem to get anything right and just couldn't understand why I had to graduate "late."
Both of those situations are in my rear-view mirror now and I can definitely say that God did not change my circumstance in those moments, no matter how much I pleaded with him. He didn't allow me to graduate any earlier than I did. He didn't bring that boy back to me just because I thought I couldn't live happily without him. He didn't bring a new guy into my life just to replace the pain of the old love. He didn't even make getting my diploma any easier just because I wanted to graduate at a certain time.
What he did do though was change my heart through those circumstances.
Let me explain.
How God changed my heart through my breakup.
I asked God to change my circumstance - to remove the heartbreak and bring this boy who caused the heartbreak back to me, but, God saw this time in my life as an opportunity to change my heart and to break my heart wide open and reveal a plan that I never would have seen for myself otherwise. You see, this break-up happened over two years ago and it's taken me until the last six months of my life to realize that all my life, I've been searching for a circumstance or a situation to fill the void I have in my heart that was only capable of being filled by Jesus Christ. God did change my circumstance but it came as a result of him changing my heart long enough for me to see that it wasn't that boy I wanted back, it was that feeling of being loved that I wanted back. And instead of bringing that boy back to me to show me love, God allowed me to feel the unfailing love of Jesus Christ, and trust me when I say, the amount of love I feel now doesn't even compare to the love I thought I felt for four years. God changed my heart and showed me what real love feels like. He showed me how to truly love someone else without allowing them to fill my heart completely. He showed me how to appreciate the pain because unlike Christ's love for me, pain fades as time goes on.
How God changed my heart by graduating "late."
Some people may say "seriously, graduating late ... give me a break" and I'll admit, compared to the trying times in other people's lives, graduating late doesn't even scratch the surface. But, trust me, school has always been hard for me. I always worked hard for the grades I earned but I also worked even harder at putting myself down every time I failed a test (and even a class or five). I prayed for God to let me graduate earlier because, "I've worked for it" and "I deserve to just finally graduate already." But guess what? God had no intention of changing my circumstance. It didn't matter that I prayed to Him to change my graduation date ... that wasn't what he had planned for me and even better, graduating earlier wouldn't have changed my heart. You see, graduating later taught me that there is no time clock in life. We think there is - we think we have to graduate college, get married, have kids, and the perfect job at the right time or we've fallen behind. But, God's timing doesn't work on our time. Isaiah 40:31 reads "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not grow faint." You see, God was teaching me patience and steadfastness - two characteristics he knew I would need for the period of time I'm in right now. He was showing me that anything worth having is worth being patient and working hard for. He was teaching me to trust in him because it is through him that I find the strength to go on even when I'm beyond ready to be finished. So, God didn't change my circumstance ... in fact, I graduated right when I was expected to. But, he did change my heart and that might be worth even more than that expensive piece of paper I earned.
Next time you pray for God to change a circumstance in your life, don't be disappointed and begin to doubt God when he doesn't change or remove that situation from your life. He isn't in the business of changing your circumstance or removing unpleasant situations from your life. He's in the business of changing your heart spiritually. He's in the business of revealing one of the fruit's of the spirit - patience - in you. He's in the business of bringing you closer to him during those trying times. Don't let your unpleasant circumstances take you away from God, his plans for you, or allow you to forget how much he loves you. Trust Him above everything and open your heart up to what he's trying to change in you.
