Thriving in the valleys of life

I subscribe to the daily devotional messages from Today God is First (TGIF) and found today's devotion a pertinent one given my recent interaction with acquaintances and friends, who seem to be going through tough times.

Though I didn't invite or ask to hear about other's problems and frustrations, it does seem that for two consecutive days, I seem to be the target of the frustrated, depressed and oppressed. They have sought me out to vent and pour out their anger and frustrations.

What does one do in such situations?

I do my best to listen. I try to discern the real situation. And I prayerfully consider what I should say to them.

While it would have been the easier route to say "I am busy and don't have time for this!" I could not bring myself to turn away when the troubled desperately needed my pair of listening ears and perhaps, my two-cents worth of perspective.

Furthermore, when such instances happen once too many times, I realize that perhaps God may have chosen to use me in such situations; first to listen, then to prayerfully discern, and speak words of encouragement and life into the troubled person's situation.

While it is easy to nod and agree with everything the troubled person says, as many people vent to others hoping to get agreement and justification for their anger ... it is quite difficult when you have a different perspective and insight into what God may be doing ...

It hasn't been easy delivering what I believe to be godly perspectives on situations ... delivering the message can cost me my friendship with this person ... and that's hard.

For those of you who have been troubled and oppressed by "enemies," consider Os Hilman's devotional message titled "Seeing Through God's Eyes."

Today's devotion was about dealing with our enemies and learning to see our enemies through God's eyes. When we understand why our "enemy" responds the way he/she does, we are "able to pray for him and genuinely love him in spite of the fact that he persecuted me. This is the kind of love Jesus wants us to have when He tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who spitefully use us."

Hilman goes on to say, "I believe God does a special work of grace in those who go beyond the realm of normal response to persecution. He brings us to a level of grace we never thought possible. Describing how God worked in Joseph's life, Francis Frangipane reveals what happens when we tap into this grace:

God made him fruitful in the very things that afflicted him. In the land of your affliction, in your battle, is the place where God will make you fruitful. Consider, even now, the area of greatest affliction in your life. In that area, God will make you fruitful in such a way that your heart will be fully satisfied, and God's heart fully glorified. God has not promised to keep us from valleys and sufferings, but to make us fruitful in them. [Francis Frangipane, Place of Immunity (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Arrow Publications, 1996), 93]

May we be the modern-day Josephs whom God will make fruitful even in the midst of trials and sufferings.