Needs vs. Wants

I just read one of my most favorite reflections ever in a Facebook post by “A Wise Woman Builds Her Home” page. The statement says:

“I thank God for protecting me from what I thought I wanted and blessing me with what I didn’t know I needed.” 

WOW!

This statement encapsulates the right attitude we are to have while voyaging the troubled waters of our lives. 

As a Christian who wants to grow closer to Christ, I know this is exactly the right perspective. As a human being who has spent most of her life trying to manipulate circumstances so they come up my way, I have a hard time accepting the wisdom in this expression. I am too attached to comfort. I have made this world my home. I don’t like affliction or trials. I always want to be protected from what scares me. I never want to go through the valley of the shadow of death. Instead, I want to always lie down in green pastures by a refreshing creek resting easy within the safety of a strong fence.

The thing is…it’s very hard to grow while in complete comfort…to grow closer to a Christ-like existence, that is…(‘cause we can certainly grow otherwise while sitting in total comfort : )

It is through the fiery trials, that we learn that fire cannot destroy us. It is in the storm that we find out that the winds and the waves obey the Divine Master who loves us. It is in the affliction and oppression that we realize we will not be crushed. It is in the earthquake that we know we are not going to be moved. It is in the flood when we see we are not going to drown. 

I know this…yet, I am always surprised when it happens to me. The minute I find myself in the midst of a tempest, I panic. I am afraid, because I forget. I forget I am supposed to go through difficult, rough patches in order to be refined, sifted and polished. I fear because I don’t have the faith it takes to rejoice in my affliction, and to be contempt always, regardless of the circumstances. I become anxious because I allow the situation to dictate my emotional state.

Trials shake me because they remind me that I am not always going to get what I want, but what I need. And what I want is to never have problems in life (and that extends to my loved ones). But what I need is to become an overcomer, like My Lord. However, I am never going to be an overcomer like Jesus if I never have anything to overcome.

I am like a child, still. I really don’t know what I need. I have to be shown. But, like a child, I resist been given what I need and throw a fit when denied what I want.

What am I to do?

Trust.

I must trust His promises, for with every challenge, comes an opportunity…with every trial, a reward.

What Bible verses do you go to when you need to be reminded that we are overcomers and that with Him, life will not crush us?

Linking with: More of Him