How Can I Learn to Embrace Trials?

Anchor Bible Church

How Can I Learn to Embrace Trials?

1 Peter 4:12-13

Lisa Hughes

Trials aren’t easy. They are meant to test us. Some are just uncomfortable while others leave us bruised and battered in heart. Our attitude toward trials is that we just want them to go away so we can go back to “normal” life. And the idea of actually embracing trials is a completely foreign concept.

Embracing a trial carries a lot with it. It means acceptance. It means trust. It means agreeing that the trial is good for us in some way. It means to actively choose to live by faith.
This is radical living, ladies.
This is courageous living.
This is following Christ living.
This is the Christian life.
It’s what God has called us to.

More from The Biblical Change Series: You Don’t Have to Stay the Same

How Can I Change?

Lisa Hughes

The maxim for this series is this: God intends His Word to be the primary means of change for a believer. No matter what your background, no matter how great your sin, or how “stubborn” you might be, there is no heart that God’s Word cannot penetrate and change. That means there’s hope. We don’t have to stay the same. We don’t have to struggle with the same old sins year after year. We don’t have to continue to live with those besetting sins, that are so upsetting to us, and to those who live with us. There is hope. God has communicated His will, His help, His thoughts to us, and it has been preserved here in the Bible. Everything we need is contained in God’s Word. Each session will address different areas of struggle, while providing concrete help and hope from God’s Word, so that growth and change can take place.

How Can I Change How I Think?

Lisa Hughes

All too often we are like Christian and Hopeful finding ourselves off the path and in danger of being captured by Giant Despair. If we’re not careful we find ourselves a prisoner in Doubting Castle, forgetting all that is helpful for our escape. We are forgetful of the resources the Lord has given us to free us from this dreadful ogre who leads us away from hope and help through wrong thinking. The promises found in the Word of God are THE KEY that unlocks the prison door of doubt and despair. In our time together, we want to look at how our thinking affects us. We especially want to consider how remembering the Word of God can unlock the prison gates, so we can be set free.

What Can I Do About My Emotions?

Lisa Hughes

Abraham trusted in God’s promises, despite his current circumstances, in spite of how he may have felt. That’s why I chose Romans 4:18-21 for our text on dealing with our emotions. It’s an unlikely text for learning how to deal with feelings, but it’s the perfect one to go to if you want to learn from someone else’s example and how they processed their emotions in such a way that it gave glory to the Lord.