Your Invitation to Grow

Life has a rather annoying habit of taking unexpected turns. Just when you least expect it, whoompa! You find yourself in a hole; a place where, in a million years, you'd never have expected to find yourself. What if I told you that that could be the biggest opportunity God will ever hand you? Jacques Lusseyran was blinded at age seven in an accident. His world shifted overnight. But rather than retreat into despair, he developed extraordinary inner perception and resolve. During World War II, he became a leader in the French Resistance, organising one of the most effective underground newspapers against the Nazis. Arrested and sent to Buchenwald, he survived despite the brutal conditions. His blindness, rather than a limitation, became a spiritual lens that sharpened his insight, courage, and compassion. In his memoir "And There Was Light" he writes, "I was not silent in my heart, and I discovered that joy can exist in darkness." Romans 5:3-5 … we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (NRSV) When life shifts unexpectedly, right there you have God's invitation to grow. When through suffering you endure, it without doubt builds your character. You walk with Jesus through that hellhole and, let me tell you, He will fill you with a certain, rock-solid hope as He pours His love into your heart by His Spirit. Seriously, that place … is the greatest opportunity He'll ever hand you. That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.