What God Has Taught Me

I am linking up with Cassie today. She and I work through "101 Questions to Ask Before you get Engaged." We see eye to eye on a good majority of things, but it isn't always easy to talk through some of the questions with your significant other. She has posed this particular question to her readers and I am following up with my answers. 

What has God taught you in the following situations in your life: failure, pain, waiting, not having enough money, facing disappointment, and facing criticism? 

Link up with her on her blog and share your answers as well!


Failure.
Who hasn't failed and learned from it? God knows we will fail and lets us fail. He gave us the choice to decide our path and knows that failure is waiting around that wrong turn. Look at Adam and Eve and tell me people don't fail. Adam and Eve were set up for success more than anyone else in history and they sinned. I have learned that from failure comes new horizons. Success all the time does not a successful person make. We need failure to learn our limits and learn from our mistakes.

Pain.
This is an interesting one because pain can be taken in so many directions. I have learned that physical and emotional pain stand as a siren song for healing. If you were in no pain, life might be perfect and you may be fully healed. We all hit instances of that in life where nothing could be better. Mentally and physically, you feel great about your current state of life. But stress, fear, anxiety, scraped knees, broken bones, etc. will all heal naturally or with the help of medicine. Pain is the first step to healing and God is pretty good at that part.

Waiting.
I am laughing at this one thinking about how to answer. God has made me into the least patient person you've met at times and others, I can sit still for hours on end. I think waiting boils down to mental state. If you are in a mood to just enjoy life and count your blessings, waiting is easy. But if you are anxious and forget about the simplicity of life, you are going to struggle to wait for what God has planned just around the corner.

Not having enough money.
God always finds a way to supply you with just the right amount of money. I think about the verse in Matthew that states that God even takes care of the birds of the air, so why are we worrying about the necessities in our life. Are we not more important than the birds? Money is an earthly creation. God can and will supply His faithful with everything they need. I stress about money all the time. Probably more than anything in my life. But, I know that when it really comes down to it, God will be there to support me through all of my trials.

Facing disappointment.
I struggle with this too. I am a goal oriented person. I like to set goals and shoot for them. Usually I know my limits and can set realistic goals that have a small reach. Normally, I can hit those goals by stretching just a bit. Sometimes I miss out on them and am so deflated it may take months for me to try again depending on the goal. God pulls me out of it each and every time and teaches me how to make it work the next time so instead of feeling deflated, I feel fulfilled.

Facing criticism.
I have a high standard of myself and to some extent I am comfortable enough to let things roll of my back when I am criticized. However, I do tend to be disappointed when criticized because I set such a high standard that I am not always appreciated for the work or time I have devoted to a certain issue. But, I have realized that despite any criticism, God is really the only one that matters and as long as I am doing everything in life to glorify Him, he approves.