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

by Laura Story

Am I going to let my circumstances determine my view of God, or am I going to let God determine how I view my circumstances?

Trials are an opportunity. They are an invitation to do good works to glorify our Father in heaven, to transform our lives from the inside out, and to drive us into the arms and footsteps of Jesus.

Our desire is for God to fix broken things. But God’s desire for us is to fix our relationship with him.

God’s ways aren’t our ways.

A God who leaves physically sick people to preach the good news to spiritually sick people is a God who cares more about our soul than our body. That is who our God is.

The biggest break is our relationship with God. It’s called the “fall” because we’ve fallen away from God, and we can’t get up by ourselves.

don’t know what the broken thing in your life is. That thing that you want God to fix. The thing that he hasn’t done, or that thing that has disappointed you so much. Maybe, one day, he will fix it. Maybe he won’t. But don’t be surprised that your life turned out the way it did.

When Jesus is with us, he’s our anchor in the rough waters of a troubled life. If we want to survive the storm we need to cling to him like the salvation he is.

perseverance doesn’t come from listening to a sermon. There is no inspirational bestseller we can read that will help us plumb the depths of our faith. 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. Sure, our faith grows through reading Scripture and praying, but just as we don’t know the strength of our body until we test it in a physical challenge, 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.

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.

In my doubt and distrust of God, I had failed to see the good things he had done for me. When his plans superseded mine, rather than trust him, I argued why my plans were better than his and doubted his goodness. But even when I doubted God’s goodness, he was good to me.

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

We each have plans and dreams for our lives. We think we know what’s best and if God just followed our plan, everything would be great. But God’s plans are much bigger than ours. Part of what God revealed to me that day in the waiting room was that 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.

I don’t know what your original plan was, or how it may have gotten off track. Certainly your circumstance is not what you anticipated. It’s hard to think about starting your life over. But God has something better planned for you. 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. It is a future filled with plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.

I was reminded how God knows our need even before we do. Running into Carol at Chick-fil-A was an answer to a prayer I hadn’t even yet prayed. And it was a tangible reminder that God would continue to meet all of our needs.

The beauty of the modern church isn’t found in architectural columns or stained-glass windows, as beautiful as those things are to me. It’s found in the lines on the faces and the joy in the eyes of those who drop what they are doing so they can be the church and serve those who need it most.

Strong faith doesn’t come from how hard I work. It’s not what I do. It’s what he does. It is not how strong my faith is. It’s how strong my God is.

God’s hold on my life wasn’t contingent on my hold on him. In those seasons of life when I’ve been distracted, God has held me that much tighter.

It’s never been about how hard I work; it’s always been about how hard God hangs on to me.

“God, may your Word take root in my heart. I need you to hold me tight today, to let your Word feed my soul, and sustain me when I am weary.”

The Bible isn’t just a book of clever greeting card slogans and memorable stories. If you’re reading your Bible merely for “inspiration” to get you through the day, you are missing the meat of it. There is so much more to be discovered.

Psalm 19 says that God’s Word refreshes the soul, makes the simple wise, gives joy to the heart, and gives light to the eyes. It says that God’s commands are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey from a honeycomb.

I kept thinking the detour would take us back to the main road. It took me several years to realize that it wasn’t a detour; it was the road.

Worship is surrendering everything for God, valuing God so much that we’re willing to let everything else go.

The answer to our whys may be obvious now, or they may never be answered in our lifetime. But even if we knew why, it’s likely we wouldn’t be satisfied with the answers anyway.

It’s important to know that nowhere does the Bible promise that all our questions will be answered this side of heaven. God doesn’t promise our stories will make sense in and of themselves. But he does promise they will find their greater purpose in light of his greater story of redemption.

The answer to why doesn’t help us heal. But knowing that God’s glory can be displayed, even in the brokenness of our lives, gives us hope despite our circumstances. I promise you will find more purpose and joy in your life if you set aside the why and begin to ask how.

the Bible does reveal to us that sometimes God uses things he hates—things like cancer, divorce, suicide, addiction, death, and more—to accomplish the things he loves. He does this regularly and faithfully. It’s only when we bring our pain to him that we can find our dwelling in him.

How might God use your current trial to glorify himself?

How might God use your weakness, infirmity, or disability to display his power? How might God use your hard circumstances to show you something about himself?

How might God use your hard circumstances to show you something about yourself? How might God use your pain for a purpose? How might God make this mess into a message? How might God use your current chaos to make ...

God doesn’t owe us an explanation this side of heaven. There’s nothing in Scripture that tells us we’re entitled to an answer. It’s not that God is secretive and doesn’t want us to know; it’s that we’re incapable of seeing the big picture.

You have to believe his promises in the midst of your hard situation because not only is that the only thing that will bring you hope, it’s the only thing that will save your life. When people go through the kind of heartache you or someone you know is going through, the only other response is to slip away into isolation and wait until the evil one eats you alive.

It’s easy to sign up for a short-term mission project or donate money to a building campaign at church. And it’s true; we can see God working in those places. But would you be willing to sign up for the brokenness in your life, if you knew your brokenness would bring glory to God and enable you to learn to trust him in everything?

What if God is calling you to write worship songs in the midst of your trials?”

When David felt that God wasn’t listening, he flat-out told God to listen (Ps. 5; 17) and answer him (Ps. 4). When David feared his enemies, he told God to fight them on his behalf (Ps. 36). If he was mad at God or frustrated when he felt alone, he did the same thing as when he felt gratitude or praise—he wrote songs about his feelings toward God. Regardless of whether his feelings were positive or negative, David boldly expressed them.

David knew his emotions were valid; he didn’t stuff them or ignore them. He took time to grieve. But when that grieving season was over, he moved on to rejoicing. His psalms are testaments not only to the authentic grief he experienced but also to his authentic joy after God put a new song in his mouth. This wasn’t an instant thing for David; it happened over time. The first and second verses of Psalm 40 say he had to wait patiently for this to happen. When it finally did, David said it wasn’t because of anything he did, but because of everything God did.

we did the only thing we could do. We put one foot in front of the other, and then we did it again. And again. One step at a time. Each step an upward climb.

We need to see marriage not as a union to make us happy but as a union to make us holy.

We all want to say that we’ll have joy in the midst of our trials, but we don’t really know whether we will until we face them.

what if there are blessings that God offers that are greater than just a pain-free life?

And what if those blessings actually came through raindrops, not sunshine?

Maybe you heard our prayers, but you didn’t give us the things we asked for because they were lesser things.

While thinking about these things, words seemed to flow and a tune came to mind. When we neared our exit, I knew I wanted to capture my thoughts and prayers, so I took a Sharpie and a gas receipt out of the cup holder and started jotting down words.

Inside my heart, I heard God clearly answer, I’ve called you to this not because you have all the answers but because you’ve learned to run to me with your questions.

God was asking me to reveal the brokenness in my life not to show how faithless I was, but how faithful he is. God wasn’t going to use me in spite of my hard story; he was going to use my hard story.

MYTH: GOD CAN ONLY USE MY STORY WHEN THERE IS A HAPPY ENDING. TRUTH: GOD CAN USE MY STORY WHEN I TRUST HIM IN THE JOURNEY.

In John 4 there is a story about a Samaritan woman getting water from a well.

this was a divine appointment created by God, and Jesus told her that he was the Messiah. In fact, she was the first person he told he was the Messiah.