Hard Turns on the Road

As Jesus commissioned His disciples in Matthew ch. 10 to be His representatives and witnesses, He warned them that there would be some suffering and hard turns on the road. Jesus said that the disciple is not above His Master, and the servant is not above the Lord. As Jesus faced trials, hardship, adversity and problems, so would we. This has been a tough year for us personally, but, I have noticed that it has been a tough year for just about everybody in the church I pastor. Trials and heartache seem to be across the board. As pastor, I hurt when my sheep hurt. I wish I could just pray and all the hardship would be lifted. But, I know that if that were to happen, we would not learn the lessons that God wants us to learn. So, my prayer will be that God would go with us through the adversity to the other side. It is at times like these that the promises of God's Word become real and precious. Verses like, "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Christ Jesus", and "There hath no temptation (test) taken you but such as is common to man...make a way of escape", and "When I am tried, I will come forth as gold". It is at times like these that we realize that when the Lord is all we have, we will find He is all we need. When we come to some hard turns on the road, let the Lord have the wheel.