A certain girl went to her father as she was having a bad day. She began to complain as her dad was cooking in the kitchen. She told him that she was not happy with her situation and how it was not fair at all for her. While she was speaking her dad tool out three separate pots, filled them with water at the same level, and then turned the fire on at the same temperature until each came to a boil. The father then placed a carrot in one pot, an egg in the 2nd pot, and coffee beans in the third. After some time, the father then asked the daughter to observe each item that was in the boiling pots and her observations. She then described that the carrot entered the boiling pot hard and came out soft, while the egg was delicate and came our hard, and the coffee bean entered, and the color of the bean was all over the pot. The father then asked his daughter, “so, which are you, when life puts you in a boil?” Do you become soft like the carrot, hard like the egg, or do you transform your environment like the coffee bean?  

This story basically is saying that it’s our choice in how we will allow the circumstanced in life to either make us bitter or better.  Will you allow the circumstances to alter your steps and cause you decrease, or will you allow yourself to become stronger and learn from them?  

In 2 Chronicles 28:19- 20 we are told,  “The Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the Lord. Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came to him, but he gave him trouble instead of help.”   

In the King James it says that he gave him “affliction instead of strength.”  King Ahaz continue to become more unfaithful to the Lord in his time of tribulation. How do you react to the storms of life? It all depends on our foundation. Will we allow our flesh to take over and make us bitter, or will we  be grounded in the Word of God and stand firm because we know that all things work for the good of those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28).  

Prayer: Lord I pray that you will help us grow in our foundation so that we will not allow the storms of life to bring us down, but instead cause us to become stronger in you. May we cling to your word daily and allow each text to give us the comfort and build our faith as we grow in YOU! Amen.