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“We cannot control all the circumstances in our lives.”

A thought by Rick Warren from his book. God's Power to Change Your Life (Living with Purpose) (p. 42). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

We try to, that why we are so tired all the time.

Rick says, “We do not know what is going to happen tomorrow, or even today. We cannot control our circumstances, but we can control how we respond to them. We can control whether an experience makes us a bitter person or a better person. What matters in life is not so much what happens to us but what happens in us.

“Paul talks about this in Romans 5:3 – 4. He says we can rejoice here and now, even in our trials and troubles, for they will produce perseverance in us and help us develop a mature character. We can rejoice in our problems, not just endure them, because we know that God is using them for our benefit. God even uses the problems we bring on ourselves.”

He goes on, “God also uses the situations that others mean for bad in our lives. This is a lesson pictured in the life of Joseph as told in the Old Testament. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery. Years later he said, ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good’ (Gen. 50:20). This holds true in your life. Maybe there is someone right now who is trying to hurt you. Don’t worry. If you are a believer, if you have put your life in God’s hands, God can use even such a painful situation for good. He will develop within you a mature character. And that is what the fruit of the Spirit is all about. God wants to produce the character of Christ in our lives because he knows that the more we become like him, the more fulfilled we will be.”

Later he says, “Here is a key truth: God produces the fruit of the Spirit in us by allowing us to encounter situations and people with characteristics that are exactly the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit.

“Consider, for example, how God produces love in our lives. Loving lovely people or people just like us is easy. But to teach us real love, God puts some unlovely people around us. We learn real love by loving that cantankerous fellow at work or that pesky neighbor. God teaches us to love by letting us practice on the ‘unlovely.’

“The same is true for peace. Anyone can be at peace in calm situations; that does not take character. God teaches us about peace in the midst of total chaos, when everything is falling apart — the phone rings, the doorbell rings, something is boiling over on the stove, the baby is crying, and the dog bites the cat. That is a situation in which we can truly learn inner peace. God works that way for each fruit he is developing in us.”

No, we can’t control our circumstances, but we can trust God to use them to develop us, to change us.  So, will you trust him to use them for your good?  Will you?


Yes, yes!
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