Stepping Stones

The next time you find yourself feeling down and out, you may be about to discover just how close and caring God is, because it’s through life’s most trying times that we learn He is always at our side. He loves us, wants only the best for us, and is able to bring about positive results from everything that happens to us—even troubles. Each difficulty or disappointment can become a stepping stone to lead us to higher ground.

God’s loving plan

God has promised in His Word, “All things work together for good to those who love God.” He will never let anything happen to you, His child, that isn’t for your good. Although a lot of things may have happened to you that didn’t look very good at the time, you’ll find out sooner or later, if you haven’t already, that in some way they weregood for you.

God’s answers to our prayers are infinitely perfect, but sometimes He doesn’t answer the way we want Him to because He sees ahead and knows that our desires would harm us or others if He were to grant them. Often we later find that what we were asking for was actually a stone that merely looked like bread, while He was trying to give us bread that in our shortsightedness looked like a stone.

The darkest times

God’s purposes aren’t always immediately clear, but you can always rest assured that you’re in His care and that things will work together for good in the end, someway. When you’re going through trying times, in spite of the difficulty, in spite of the confusion, in spite of the disappointment or heartbreak, in spite of the loss, you must hold on to the knowledge that God loves you. His love is unchanging, unfailing, and unending. No matter what happens, no matter how bleak the outlook, no matter how difficult the battle, no matter how long and dark the tunnel, no matter how severe the suffering, He loves you. He doesn’t give His love stingily. He doesn’t mete out a little here and there as you earn it. He always pours forth His love freely and abundantly.

Even through the most trying times, He is “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” He is there in the darkness. He is there in the trial. He is there in the confusion. He is there in the depths. He is there because He loves you. He is there to help you through.

He doesn’t like to see you suffer and be unhappy, but He knows those experiences will help you to become the better man or woman He knows you can be.

Pathway to glory

When you come to the end of life’s road and look back at all that happened to you, you’ll see just how much God loved you and how faithfully He cared for you all along the way, especially when the going got rough. It will be clear then that the rocks in your path were not placed there to cause you to stumble, but they were meant to be stepping stones to better things.

So no matter what hard turns your road may take, remember that Jesus is with you. He cares, and He will eventually cause even the “worst” situations to work together for your good. He has promised that.

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Joshua 1:9 ESV – Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Philippians 4:6-7 ESV – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.