Are you tired of living a defeated Christian life? Why not check out this video…..
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Carol’s parents were divorced when she was two, and she never knew her father. Although she became a Christian at an early age, she could never see anything good that came out of her having to grow up in a broken home. The hurt had always festered in her heart.
But now the hurt is healed. God used an experience that happened while she was teaching fifth grade in a rural school.
Carol had a gifted, artistic boy in her class. Mark loved to do bulletin boards and displays, and Carol developed a special feeling of warmth toward this creative child.
As the year progressed, however, she noticed that the lad seemed increasingly troubled about something. It bothered her to see him gradually lose his enthusiasm for his creative work.
One day Mark came to see her after school and said, “I won’t be in school tomorrow. I have to go to my grandmother’s.”
“Why?” Carol asked him.
“My parents are going to court to get a divorce,” he answered. Then he started to cry.
Carol put her hand on his arm and said, “Mark, I know how much this hurts you. My parents were divorced when I was not quite two years old, and it has hurt me a lot. I never even knew my father. But you have had yours with you for 11 years, and I’m sure he loves you and will keep in touch with you. Just because your parents are getting divorced doesn’t mean you won’t have a happy life. God has a purpose for your life, Mark. And even though this has happened with your parents, someday you can have a happy marriage, just as I now have.”
After Mark left, Carol sat there at her desk. Suddenly, she realized she was thankful she could use her experience to comfort Mark in a way she could not otherwise have done. She knew that God could bring good out of this bad experience by giving her the opportunity to help others. She realized that many, like Mark, were suffering from the same emotional hurt as she had. How wonderful it would be if her encouragement, support, and testimony would lift their hearts too!
That day Carol learned what God’s Word means when it says, “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). As she bowed her head and thanked God for the blessing He could bring from this unhappy dimension of her childhood, the resentment and pain she had carried for years began to dissolve and relinquish their hold. Tears ran down her face–but they were tears of joy.
Thank you, Father God, that You redeem our lives. Amen.
Questions: How does the verse “Give thanks in all circumstances” apply to your life? Do you have difficult experiences that have happened in your life that you need to thank God for?
About the Author: Dr. Muriel Larson
Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, The Abiding Life, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog
Tags: artistic, Christian, divorced, emotional hurt, gifted, healed, hurts, Muriel Larson, rural school, school, testimony
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