When God Doesn't Fix It: Lessons You Never Wanted to Learn, Truths You Can't Live Without

by Laura Story

If we want to survive the storm we need to cling to him like the salvation he is.

MYTH: SALVATION IS GAINED BY THE THINGS I DO.

TRUTH: SALVATION IS GAINED BY WHAT JESUS DID FOR ME.

We don’t become perfect and complete by sitting in church.

We learn who he really is during the most desperate part of our trials. It’s about meeting God where and when we need him most.

our faith isn’t perfected until it’s been tested in a spiritual challenge.

James is saying that when the trials of life happen, we need to hold on to God. It’s an opportunity for us to look in the dark for the less obvious blessings and mercies of God that we might overlook in the light. When we do, God shows us things that we otherwise might miss. God’s light is brightest in the dark.

During our trials we can feel like a garden overrun with weeds—as if life is being choked out of us. Finding time to study, pray, and worship may be impossible.

even in the overgrown weeds, we can study the

seeds of mercy, grace, and hope; toss up a quick, “Help me”; and praise God that he’s in...

That’s the kind of perseverance that matures and com...

Psalm 43:3: “Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain...

The psalmist is saying that God’s presence isn’t something we have to work for. We don’t have to seek it, search for it, or earn it. Instead, God sends his light to us and all we have to do is follow it back to him. When I am limp and lifeless and can barely speak, my simple prayer is...

Even during the darkest days of our trials, my joy came when I took tentative steps in God’s direction.

Even during your darkest trials God is waiting with outstretched arms for you to come into his presence. Take a step in his direction and let his light lead you to the joy that can only be found in him.

MYTH: WHEN THINGS LOOK DARK, GOD IS GONE. TRUTH: WHEN THINGS LOOK DARK, GOD’S LIGHT SHINES THE BRIGHTEST.

What if this is my life from now on? How can I continue to love someone who thinks I’m out to

get him? How am I supposed to serve him when he doesn’t believe I have his best interests at heart?

While I was crying out to God, I felt a warm and loving...

Laura, I do that for you every day, he said. I love you and I care for you. I have been faithful to you, yet you

doubt me every step of the way. Even now you think I’m trying to harm you, not do something good for you.

I began to weep. You’re right. Just like Martin this morning, I’ve doubted your goodness when all you’ve ever

done is care for me, love me, and forgive me.

But even when I doubted God’s goodness, he was good to me.

I could do at least that much for Martin.

What a dramatic change in their life plans! Imagine how shocked they must have been to go from freedom to slavery in such a short period of time.

How long would they be held in slavery?

And where was God in all of this?

God revealed that he was the one who had allowed his ...

into exile in ...

he sucked the air right out of their tents when he said they would be there for se...

Fortunately, God backed up that bad news with some good news:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me

and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and w...

God reminded them that he had a plan. His plan would help them prosper and give them a future even better than the one they dreamed abou...

they had to decide whether to throw up their hands in despair—or to trust that God is who he says he is and tha...

I began to see that God was using our hospital captivity to teach me about his character and to draw me closer to him.

When I was alone pouting

God was able to break through my stubbornness and reveal another plan for me, a better plan—one that would draw me in...

Fortunately, God is faithful to us even when we are disobedient to him.

just because God’s plan differed from mine didn’t mean that God’s plan wasn’t good, or that he wasn’t good.

And it didn’t mean that he had abandoned us.

If you find yourself struggling in a situation you didn’t see coming, consider it an opportunity to trust

God. When we trust that God is for us and not against us, we can see our future as he sees it.

plans that will ultimately draw you closer to him.

MYTH: THE PLAN I HAVE FOR MY LIFE IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE PLACE WHERE GOD HAS ME RIGHT NOW. TRUTH: WHERE GOD HAS ME RIGHT NOW IS THE BEST PLACE FOR ME.

Until Martin’s illness, I never realized how much I needed the help of people from my church. There had been so many opportunities to serve us and they availed themselves of each one. As a staff member, I felt as if I should have been the one serving them. It was both humbling and humiliating to me.

Until I learned, it wasn’t about me.

When I was young, I thought church was all about a building on Sundays.

The first-century church wasn’t something experienced in a building on Sunday mornings.