These Trials May Just Be An Invite

GUEST BLOGGER: Jeff Caiola

I honestly thought I was done writing, I thought I had no more words to say.  But these past few weeks have stirred up a place in my heart, which makes it difficult to remain silent. 

It started on Easter Sunday and seeing all the signs that people made, what they were like before they found Christ and who they are today. It was a defining moment for me. It blew me away. I am not alone and the tears started to flow.

Then I heard several conversations where people were associating suffering with punishment from God. Then the tears flowed again but for a different reason.

So many people are hurting from the trials of this world and they are associating their pain with God’s wrath.

I have been in this boat so many times where I blamed myself and thought God was punishing me. It started long ago and I started to believe the words of this world. I had my share of being bullied where I was called some pretty rotten words. After a while, it started to wear on me. I developed a deep fear of being rejected and became tired of the name calling. 

Then later in life, more tragedy would come which was totally out of my control. This became a pivotal point for me because there was nothing I could do. It made me so angry, I kept asking myself “what did I do?”  I brought my anger to God, because my heart was crushed. I just couldn't understand.

But God had a plan that I was totally unaware of. What seemed to be the most horrific parts of my life became the start of my journey home.

I was too busy with my own thoughts that I could not hear God. But things started to clear up when I first started reading the Bible. I was stuck on the following verse and could not figure out why….

John 9:1-3, Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind As He went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 

 Years later, I would start to see what God was working on. It still blows me out of the water. What seems to be a tragedy to us, might be an opportunity to show us who He is. 

In fact, these tragedies have brought me to Christ… and today I know that I am loved by the great ‘I AM’!

So what if we have it all wrong? 

So often, we define what is going on in our fallen world by our wisdom. 

What if we are missing God’s invitation to walk with him?

Genesis 3:8-9 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

 What if God turns the trials of this world into an invitation? 

What if He is just looking for you? 

 After all God Loves you!