Frustration and Praise

The past couple days have been full of frustration for me. I feel that things are all going along the hard road and Im feeling run down because of it. In my prayers I have cried out to God that things would run more smoothly, that doors of opportunity would open up, but I still feel frustrated that things are not going to plan.

But this is the time I should be praising the Lord...not feeling frustrated by my circumstances. For it is in my weaknesses that God's amazing love and power is made evident through my life. All I need to do is trust Him. For it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 -

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

But why is it then I become distracted and frustrated? After spending some time praying over the situations, I reflected over the point that God doesn't put me through anything without a reason and He will never test me beyond my limits, as is referred to in 1 Corinthians 10:13 -

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

There are times in life where God is wanting us to develop in a certain area, maturing certain aspects of our character. It is through difficult times that we mature the most in my opinion. In 1 Peter 1:7 it talk about how our faith is tested in times of hardship, like Gold being purified by fire -

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

So the more I spend time reflecting on these verses, the more my frustration is turned around into praise! While to some this may sound naive and unrealistic, but when you have seen the amazing works God has done in your own life, how through times of difficulty have concluded with miracles, it is impossible not to praise the Lord, for we have the promise that He will never abandon us, He hears our prayers! It highlights this in Philippians 4:6 -

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Why should we do this? Because the Lord hears our prayers and answers our prayers! 1 John 3:22 makes mention of this -

Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

Therefore...despite what our emotions tell us, how they make us feel...we need to continually rejoice in times of difficulty, as it is during these times that the real power of God is made evident in our lives. And it is ultimately through these trials that we develop our character into that which resembles our Lord and Savior!