Cancer in an eye … an accident that causes paralysis … an arrest … these are all things that none of us would want in our life. However, in the life of Ron Hamilton (Patch the Pirate), cancer in his eye opened an entire world of ministry that has carried his music around the world. Joni Erickson Tada dove into shallow water and became paralyzed as a young woman. From that position of paralysis, God has opened the eyes of millions of people to the needs of the handicap around us. Harold was arrested as a twenty-one-year-old man and sentenced to life in prison. It was in prison that the glorious light of the Gospel reached his soul. He has served God faithfully for forty years in that same prison, proclaiming the salvation that he experienced there. The men whose lives have been touched by him will only be known in Heaven.
So why should we complain about the afflictions we are facing today however big or small they may be? The psalmist wrote, “I know, O LORD, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me” (Psalm 119:75). You see, the key to whether we view our troubles positively or negatively is wrapped up in the idea of where they came from. Today God is not sleeping as it regards your situation. As a matter of fact, He is orchestrating the events that will come to you so that your life will bring the maximum amount of glory to Him! That trouble that you cannot seem to shake, could be the channel God is using to direct you to the person He needs you to reach today. Without that affliction (trouble) that you have, you might totally miss that person! I am not asking God for cancer, or paralysis, or even imprisonment today, but I am asking Him to help me to accept the challenges that will come to me today and to see them as opportunities not obstacles. The reality is that a trouble can be either an opportunity or an obstacle for you today. The determining factor to which it is will be determined by your understanding of what God intended you to do with it. Today rather than viewing your challenges as some kind of judgment on you, accept the fact that in God’s infinite wisdom, He knew that this trial was exactly what He needed to give you in order for you to totally trust Him! He knows what He’s doing, and He knows the best way to do it. Will you trust Him today? You’ve trusted Him for your salvation; now trust Him to show you His will. I thank God that when we trusted Christ He even changed our trials into blessings!