A We Believe Devotional With Claire – Letting Trials Transform

Lickety-split after Claire got home we had the chance to record the We Believe devotional. We talked about letting trials transform us. How when we lay out our hearts for God to heal, sometimes we have to wait. Sometimes we have to realize that what we want may not be the thing that will help us the most.

Our devotional aired yesterday.

I think you can watch it for another week.

I have to say, we had fun recording. Oh man I adore being with this girl. And it took a few tries to get our bearings straight to get our thoughts out:

Ha!

But oh, I loved what we got to share.

We talked about D&C 19:38 where God says this:

We talked about how, sometimes, we want things right now. And we want them how we think they should be.

Joseph Smith sure did. He and Oliver Cowdrey and Martin Harris were sure trying to do something good, getting the Book of Mormon published. And things just weren’t working out as they thought they should.

But now there are missionaries sharing that book all over the world.

Pouring our Hearts out to God

I think it’s safe to say we are all going through things that keep us up at night. Things we wish we could change. Things that we are willing God to swoop up and save.

Sometimes we are so deep into our sorrows that we don’t stop to recognize “God’s spirit poured out upon us,” let alone the transformation it is helping manifest in our hearts.

But then I think of “the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.” I think of Corrie Ten Boom praying to God with gratitude for fleas. I think of the things that were so difficult in Claire’s mission. The things that keep me up at night.

It’s difficult to talk about when we’re in the middle of them.

Only when we leave them do we have the chance to look back and realize how transformative they are.

We have to look for the light. And look for the angels.

I do think that when we go through the valleys of sorrow we create wells of grit to help us do the next impossible thing.

I love that Claire brought up this quote:

I love it because sometimes we want a “transactional” relationship with God. “I do this, then you give me that.”

Letting Trials Transform

But when we let go of that and let the ashes transform into beauty, that’s when our brokenness can transform our very selves. Little by little and day by day. Sometimes letting trials transform us takes a long time.

But life is long.

And we have to make the CHOICE to let ourselves transform.

Thanks We Believe for letting us think together on this. The devotional is still live if you want to listen in.

Sending out love for everyone out there in the storms and billows.

God is awake.