God is calling you to renew your mind so it can be transformed. That may mean coming to Him as you are, broken and weak. But you come, not as a child facing the whipping belt or time out in the corner, but as a child of the Creator of the universe who loves you whole heartedly and sees what is good and acceptable and can be made perfect in you. He is waiting for you to bend your will to His so He can help you in that renewal process. He is standing there, sleeves rolled up and ready to begin the transformation. All you need to do is whisper, “Okay. I am ready. Help me do this.”

God calls us to be open, vulnerable and honest about our failings and struggles because He knows that that is the place where we will find healing. When we choose to keep our failures and difficulties to ourselves we move into a place of isolation and loneliness as we forge a path on our own.

And isn’t that just what Satan wants? He wants to keep us all in our own little fortresses “safe from the outside world” where no one can be a witness to our pain and discouragement and where we will be unable to care for and encourage someone else? He doesn’t want us to be what God intended the church body to be to one another.

Almost every character in the Bible struggled with trusting God at some point in his or her life. Joseph wondered why he was sold into slavery. The disciples wondered why Jesus (whom they believed was the Messiah who would free Israel) was betrayed, beaten and ultimately crucified on the cross. Job wondered why as a righteous man he was experiencing such acute suffering. Similarly, you may have wondered why your parents got divorced, why a close friend betrayed you, or any number of other difficult circumstances you find yourself in the midst of. If so, you are in good company.

Even though faith may not always make sense from a human perspective, we can trust that God is good and that He has a plan for everything. God never let go of the steering wheel while David was fleeing for his life from Saul, while Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, or when Joseph was sold into slavery. This is why Joseph says to his brothers after revealing his identity, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result…” (Genesis 50:20).?It’s as if Christ is saying to us, “Trust me. I’m alive and in control of every situation. I will take your struggles and change them into blessings. I will take your suffering and turn it into joy. And how can I do that? I’m the sovereign, almighty Lord of the universe, who can do all things and who causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. So trust in me, no matter what.”