How God Uses Our Trials to Grow Us and Bless Others

When we go through a trial, and come out on the other side, we are equipped to understand someone else going through a similar situation. We can say, “I might not understand exactly how you are feeling, but I did go through something similar and I hurt with you.  I am here for you.” Our trials bring growth and bless us and others.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

Think about how much compassion and empathy you have for someone who is going through a similar situation that you’ve already experienced!?

I love 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 because it speaks to just that!!

Ashley’s Trial

My younger daughter, Ashley, grew up playing volleyball. She loved it and we spent many years going to club volleyball tournaments and watching her play. Volleyball and art were her two favorite things to do. When she wasn’t playing volleyball she was creating beautiful masterpieces with her amazing God given talent.

Going into her junior year she was at volleyball practice the week before school started and had a freak accident where she landed wrong and blew out her knee. She tore her ACL, MCL and both meniscus. Ugh.

Ashley’s Pain

It was a really rough time for her. I absolutely hated (I almost never use that word, but here it’s completely appropriate) seeing her in pain. She was hurting physically, but the harder part was the emotional hurt of not being able to play the sport she loved and missing out on so many things. She was really down and I felt so helpless.

I’ll never forget the day she said she was going to go to Bible study. She was about 6 weeks from her accident. Getting out to do something was huge because she wasn’t really getting out much.

Blessing Others

Here is how God works. Here is how He uses our trials to bless others.

It just so “happened” that my daughter’s Young Life leader had one of her old YL girls come to share her story that night at Bible Study of going through a time of darkness and how God pulled her out of it.

As she shared her story, she talked about how her art helped her deal with her pain and gave her a tangible thing to do as she was struggling. She talked about how the sadness was so tough, but God was with her and got her through it. Ironically this girl even looks like my daughter! Anna Joy shared how she feels true joy now and told the girls that night- if they are in a hard place, they won’t be there forever!

As Ashley heard this girl talk about feeling despair and how God drew her close during this trial, my sweet girl felt known, loved and seen. That was a a glimmer of hope for Ashley. It still makes me teary thinking about the goodness of God that night.

Ashley Now

Fast-forward two years and that same daughter is doing so well. She has grown in so many ways…I’m crazy proud of her! She told me before she went to college, “Mom, don’t worry about me! Because I went through that really tough time my junior year, I can do anything.” That trial grew her faith, helped her realize how incredibly strong she is, and gave her a deep gift of empathy for others.

Quick story of how God then used Ashley to bless a new friend. She had just gone through sorority recruitment as a freshman. On Bid Day, I was waiting at the sorority house for her, and it seemed like every single girl had shown up except for Ashley. Low and behold, she was one of the last ones to arrive because she was walking with a new friend who was on crutches. That new friend had recently torn her ACL. Ashley was able to comfort Hannah with the comfort she received from God.

My Trials and Joy

I wrote this on an airplane heading back to Denver after moving my parents from a lake house our entire family loved, into a retirement community in Dallas. I have some dear friends who reached out. They said, “I get it’s hard to launch kids and see your parents age at the same time.” They are using the love and compassion they received from God and sharing that comfort and compassion with me.

My husband and I left Texas and moved to Colorado in July. We became empty nesters (I wrote about that in this post) and moved at the same time. Whew! I now can share with others how I’m feeling and enjoying this new phase with my husband and grieving-all at the same time. You can’t really understand how it feels to experience those life changes unless you’ve been through them.

My brother and I moving our parents. My cute parents. The girls and I on our last golf cart ride at the lake.

God Redeems All He Allows

I could go on and on about how I’ve seen God use trials to bless others. One of our old pastors would frequently say, “God redeems all He allows.” I believe one of the ways He does that is by asking us to love, care for, and encourage others who are going through the same trials we have been through. Through those hard times, we not only grow, but we can bless others going through a similar situation.

Grateful for you!

Julie