Ellen Mastro one said, "Mistakes are steppingstones upon which we build our future. With each one we gain insight and courage, learn something new, and rise a little closer to the sunshine. Then we begin again."
Ever since I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, my life was ultimately changed. My life suddenly became like nothing it ever was before. Life was harder. It was full of struggles. It was full of hardships, hardships that clearly tested my faith. I was persecuted because of my faith. I had only one true friend in the entire school. I encountered many problems.
With all of those trials and obstacles, I often experienced defeat. To be perfectly honest, I was such a failure. Everyone thought that I was some Jesus freak (but I am and I'm proud of being one). My family was oblivious to everything that was happening in my life. I failed. I was too caught up in everything. I was defeating myself for not being good enough.
I was asking God for help. He led me to Sirach 2:1 which says, "My son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials." I think it was then that I understood that the moment I identify myself with Christ, the moment I decide to give it all to Jesus and follow His footsteps, trials and hardships will always come.
Oswald Chambers writes:
"Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. 'The clouds are the dust of His feet' (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there... Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child - a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows."
"Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. 'The clouds are the dust of His feet' (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there... Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child - a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows."
As a Christian, I still live with these clouds but things are simplified because of my relationship with Jesus. I continue to press on and live a life the way He wants it. With or without the clouds.
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