Uncomfortable Circumstances Build Character

When in 1st grade my parents waited until the last minute to get me a costume for our schools Halloween party. All the girls were dressed as a princess of some sort and I'm in regular clothing.. but then I look up and see my parents. Momma is holding a Wal-Mart bag and all the while I'm walking towards her, she's already saying I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but this was the last costume they had. I look in the bag and I pull out a mask and it's the face of a man! I'm shocked but still staying optimistic in remembering there was no other choices. But then..oh my lands..I remember it like it was yesterday. I pull out the red and silver outfit and put the mask next to it and discover its MORK!! I'm horrified that I am expected to dress up as Mork from the tv show Mork & Mindy! My classmates are laughing and walking around saying Nanu Nanu in my face. Meanwhile my cousin is flaunting her princess dress yet somehow trying to console me by saying it's not so bad, yet still laughing at me. I saw how bad my parents felt so I didn't say anything and just put the costume on.

There are times throughout our lives where we are horrified at the things we have to endure. All we can see is the uncomfortable situation we are in or about to go through. It's often during and through these times that these situations will change and often refine us. Think of it in terms of a diamond. A diamond isn't shiny and beautiful to begin with.. no, what we see is the result of coal going through the hard pressing and crushing stages and then the layers being stripped away to reveal the beautiful diamond we know today. So the next time things don't go our way, maybe we should look at it as a character building step that will strengthen, teach and grow us if we will let it. Once we can do that, then we can look back through the "Mork" times in our lives and see Gods loving hand already at work in building up our character for the things to come throughout our life.

Maybe you're tired of the struggle and the troubles.. if that's you, just keep in mind that nothing God does is in vain for it all has a specific purpose and plays a significant role in our lives and in the lives of others. Life comes with building blocks that lead to our path of stepping stones. We can't step up if we can't climb the blocks set in our path to get us there. We also can't climb using our own strength. The higher the level, the more that will be required of us and the more strength we will need. Our own strength will only last so long before we are going to need help. So I want to encourage you today to reach out to Jesus and when you do, you can trust that His hand will always be the hand reaching down to pull you up. He is the one that will never leave you. Even in those times of crushing, He's there and it is through Him that we gain the strength to press on and keep pressing on towards the destiny He has for us.. but we cannot get there without Him. This means we have to allow Him to bring about whatever is necessary to build our character and in doing so we gain new perspectives on how the Lord is working in and has been working throughout our lives to build our character for the things to come. This character building produces hope, faith, strength and trust in Jesus and it helps us to cross over from these things into belief and when we get to the believing part, that's where we will see the miracles of old still happening today.