Just over seven months ago my father passed away. I have been in the fire service for close to 40 years, I’ve seen a lot of things that can test you mentally. Along with my mom’s passing, this was one of my toughest trials. Just when I was feeling like my trial was closing, I’m facing a retrial. On December 2nd, my brother passed away. I am now faced with a retrial.
During trials, I’m amazed at what comes out of people’s mouths. It can be both perplexing and questionable to say the least. It can leave one angered and insulted. Doesn’t anyone have compassion, or do they just lack sensitivity?
Recently, I tuned into a sermon by Dr. Tony Evans about trials. I feverishly took notes. Here’s my take-away. He said every one of our trials is “custom made” just for us, with our name on it designed by God and for no one else. These customized trials make us grow.
It dawned on me that people were not insensitive, they simply were not experiencing my trial. Though they could relate, this was my trial not theirs. Their trial is pending, because in life, we can never avoid trials; they are part of life and make us grow.
Dr. Evans gave examples such as how painful it is for a mother to give birth. It is one of the most painful experiences one could face. However, the result is birth, leading to growth and development. Like giving birth to a baby, trials can help us become reborn while bringing growth and development into our lives if we remain open to the experience.
Trials Come Unexpectedly
You’re working and unexpectedly the tones go off and a call comes in during dinner, or you’re asleep at 2:00 am, or unexpectantly while training. Have you ever been watching television or listening to the radio when unexpectantly the normal broadcasting programming is interrupted by a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. We hear a loud, annoying noise for 30 or 60 seconds. I used to hate those tests because they always seemed to come at the worst time — just when you didn’t want the show or song to be interrupted. And since there was never any advance warning the test was coming, there was no way you could avoid it. The station just broke in and said, “this is a test – this is only a test.”
Life’s trials and setbacks are like that. They often come with no warning, just an announcement: “This is a test.” There’s often nothing to warn you that the doctor is coming back with a bad report or that your company is downsizing. Life’s setbacks just show up at the most inopportune times.
We see throughout Scripture that trials are an inevitable reality in life, and we read imperatives like this: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). Notice the Bible does not say if you encounter trials, but when. Trials are inescapable.
Why Do We Try and Avoid Trials?
If it was up to us, no one would voluntarily sign up to go through trials. We would make it our priority to avoid them completely. Understanding that trials/tests are a part of life. It’s important to remember, good times don’t last forever, neither do the bad times. Yes, there will be times when it seems like you are progressing in life and life is great. Equally, there are times we may feel we are not progressing at all. But it’s during those times we must not quit, for in quitting we stop growing. If we stop growing, how then can we be tested, and if untested, how can we realize our fullest potential. Maturity means accepting that trials come to try us, refine us and make us grow.
How to Prepare for Trial
Don’t quit. Let endurance finish the test. Some take the same test over and over because we do not finish. We quit. Therefore, we keep taking the same test. No growth and development if you don’t take or endure the test before your change comes. Problems are tests. We want to run from the tests. Your trials/tests are yours. You have to deal with them and take them. They have YOUR name on it not mine. Just like my tests are MY tests with my name on it not yours.
How we look at tests is how we pass and go through them. When you run into a trial, be joyful! Yes, though difficult, remain positive – understanding the trial is good for me. That there will be growth and rebirth for you in the end.
Yes, such trials and tribulations are indeed God’s will for His children; but as James 1:12 states and what I placed to read on my dad’s headstone at his gravesite “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those that love Him.”
Like my dad, my brother faced many trials. Like my brother, you, I and everyone alive will face trials. We cannot escape them; it’s how we face them.
Keep the Faith
“I not only know who I am. I also know where I’m going.” May your troubles be less, your blessings more, and may nothing but happiness, come through your door. “Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil – it has no point.”
May each of us have lived our lives so that when our ticket is punched, we don’t have to worry about where we are going.
RIP Mike, I love & miss you…
Sam DiGiovanna is a 40 – year fire service veteran. He started with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, served as Fire Chief at the Monrovia Fire Department, and currently serves as Chief at the Verdugo Fire Academy in Glendale. He also is a consultant for www.Lexipol.com