I saw this meme a few days ago and oh how I laughed. I get it, I so get it! But I think there's an opportunity to go deeper here so let's dive in ...or "zuka zama" as my 4 year old would say (shout out to my fellow Lion Guard fans!)

It's tempting to want the blessing without the trial, but they often go hand in hand.

God wants your heart: all of it; the whole thing. He wants you pure, He wants you clean, He wants you refined. Because that is what is good for you. The same way we want what is best for our children, even if they do not like or understand it in the moment. He wants you ready for the day the Lord returns. He wants you ready to inherit the kingdom of Heaven. And there is no way to the Father but through Jesus (John 14:6).

Refining happens through the fire. To most followers of Christ this is nothing new. "Yes, we know this- count it all joy.... La La la- but it hurts." I know. I'm with you.

But betrayal, mockery, rejection, and crucifixion; I'm sure it hurt too. But Jesus did that. He did it for you. Jesus was called to save the world, to reconcile us to our maker, and it literally killed Him. Of course, He rose again. However, the process was far from pretty.

Remember His mother, Mary? "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women", is how the Angel Gabriel addressed her (Luke 1:28).  Elizabeth greets her with, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb,"(Luke 1:42). It is still how we think of Mary today- a blessed woman. But can you picture it, in her day how she must have been treated by those who didn't believe or didn't know the real situation when she was pregnant with Jesus? What about Joseph? Can you imagine the responsibility of being the man who was called to raise the Messiah?

Can we really conceive what Mary experienced? Her own son bearing the weight of the world's sin, publicly beaten, maimed, shamed, naked, and hated, especially knowing He was innocent? Knowing the Divine allowed this, willingly endured it. Not only for her but for people she didn't even know. But blessed is she....

Our calling will burden us at some point. The ministry God has for you may break you before it begins. Your testimony will have painful places. We live in a fallen world where bad things happen. Do not be afraid, God is with you, He will mend you, and you will know your healer and love Him more deeply. God never tells us not to hurt or feel sad. Our emotions are not necessarily bad, but we are not to be controlled by them, but by the Holy Spirit. God does, however, command us not to fear- in a lot (a whole lot) of places in Scripture. Because He is with us. He has already overcome whatever you're walking through.

Remember the Israelites that wondered for 40 years when there was a much quicker (albeit more dangerous) path? God used that time to weed out what was necessary to get the right generation to the promised land. I'm not saying the other generations didn't matter. I'm saying they all had a time and place to get the chosen people where they were going.

Remember Queen Esther? Remember what she faced? Yet she was encouraged by her cousin- "yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this." Esther was created to be an overcomer; for such a time as this, and so are you my brothers and sisters in Christ. The trials and tribulations God has before you, they are there for a reason. God will use your pain and your heart ache to refine you. To thrust you into your calling and into a deeper relationship with Him. I'm not saying He caused your suffering, but He is sovereign...so if it happened, He allowed it. If He allowed it, He will redeem it. He will use it for your good (Romans 8:28).

The loss you thought would kill you- He's using it. The abuse - He will redeem it, He has healed you, He has made you whole. The abandonment, the pain, the illness, that thorn in your side- even if you haven't seen it yet, consider it done, whether in this life or in Heaven. It may not look or feel the way you think it should right now, but persevere, there is a finish line ahead (Heb 12:1-3).

He has the final say and He has overcome the world. We just haven't seen it yet. But beloved, you will!

This doesn't mean bad things won't happen. Indeed, we live in a fallen world. But what it does mean is that if it isn't good, if it is still broken, if the sickness remains, then we haven't seen the end of it. Overcoming the trials and the tribulations - a faith that perseveres through them; that is where we find the seat of blessed and highly favored.

Blessed Mary, mother of Jesus, literally watched her son being murdered. Yet, blessed and highly favored is she who was chosen to carry and raise our precious Savior.

So yes friends, in the heat of the moment it is hard. Grief is hard. Loss is hard. Rejection, depression, injustice, poverty, abuse, abandonment; it is all so very hard. But encourage yourself, remind yourself, God has equipped you for everything you need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:3). We don't need the thing, or the person, the experience, or the time we think we need. What we truly need, is more Jesus. He will fight your battles for you (Exodus 14:14).

So friends, what fire are you walking through this season?

Embrace the process. I know, my heart knows, it's hard and it does hurt, but you are not alone.

When we trust in Jesus we will go into and come out of these trials and tribulations blessed and highly favored. Not because of what you have or what you now know. But because of who you have and who you now know, who you have come to know more deeply in your sorrow. The one who has held you together through it all. Nothing is better than YESHUAH and an authentic relationship with Him.

I love Tauren Wells' song, "Hills and Valleys," especially the following lines:

On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the One who set me there
In the valley, I will lift my eyes to the One who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain, I didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley I know I am not alone
You're God of the hills and valleys
Hills and valleys
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone

Those who know Him have been through the fire- probably more than once. Blessed and highly favored are those whose faith not only survives, but has thrived in the fire.

We don't get to receive, nor do I think we could even comprehend the magnitude of; the blessed and highly favored without the trials and tribulations. So dear friends don't go looking for trials, they will inevitably find you. And when they do- count it all joy (James 1:2-4). The "blessed and highly favored" part is in the works.

Blessed and Highly Favored One, if God is for you, who can be against you? (Romans 8:28-39)