God is With Us

This week we started to learn about the Character of God, specifically that God is with us.

We see God most when bad things happen to us, even though we often feel like he is not there. (Psalm 22:1-2)

We learned about a Thriveline...when you go through your life and identify the highs and lows, then what you learned in those times. (Note to self - do this!) Then you can start to see patterns in your life.

We looked at the story of Jonah, and how he acted during his time of struggle. Through this story, we learned a few things that the world teaches about struggle.

The world says - when hard times come, we should panic and run away from God. Brokenness isolates us and takes us away from reality. (No one else has ever goner through this, you can't understand...been there, done that.) It causes us to compare with others (You don't know, someone has had it worse.) It also upsets us even deeper and we make it into something bigger than it was (yep, done that too).

Here is the important thing...God is revealed in the low points (Romans 12:2). They cause us to reach out to God. He works for the good of those who have been called to Him (Romans 8:26-28). Bad times get ME out of the way to see God. No matter what we've been through, we need to remember that God has been through it too. (Luke 23:44-46; Psalm 31:1)

So, when I look at this in my life, it is right on. Every struggle has brought me closer to God. Not only that, but most of the time, I cause every struggle by trying to control that situation. Yep, lesson learned. I am sure I am going to get in the way again, but I am excited that it will be another way for God to reveal himself to me!