By Pastor Naomi Mitchell
Carter County Times
My friend, your life is not an accident. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Don’t waste your trials. Don’t waste the privilege God gives you to glorify Him when you go through heartbreak, hardship, afflictions, sorrows, persecution, suffering, calamity, difficulty. God is sovereign, in control of your life, and orchestrating your life for your good. And your good is not just defined by what you’d like as your earthly life. Good is defined as what is going to make you most like Christ and make you most useful in God’s hands. Believe me, you are not alone in all of this!
Here is an excerpt from a message by Kathyrn Kuhlman.
“Do you know what it means to wait with tears on your pillow at night? Waiting when the doctors have said there’s nothing more they can do? Not knowing if the promise will ever come. But while you wait, He is working. You don’t see it now, you don’t see it with your eyes, you don’t feel it with your hands. But just because you can’t see the answer doesn’t mean the answer isn’t on its way. There are things happening behind the veil of your understanding, things being moved or rearranged, made ready for the Spirit of the living God is not still. He never sleeps. He never forgets. He doesn’t grow weary. The answer you need may be growing roots before it ever breaks the soil. But you would think nothing is happening. Tears are not wasted; they nourish the coming miracle. Every tear that falls in quiet, to every tear cried in the loneliness of midnight, every tear shed in desperation, is not forgotten or overlooked. They are seen, they are gathered, they are sacred in the unseen realm. Tears are more than emotion. They are intercessions. They are languages. They are a testimony of the soul’s deep yearning for something beyond its own strength. What the world dismisses as weakness, Heaven regards as precious offering. Each tear carries weight and in the hands of the divine they become seeds that water the very ground of your future. In times of waiting and uncertainty tears become a companion to faith, not because faith is absent but because faith endures the weight of silence and still believes. Real faith does not deny the pain, it carries it, and the pain expressed in tears is never a sign of failure but of deep connection with the one who sees all. The psalmist said, ‘you have kept count of my tossing’s put my tears in your bottle.’ This is not poetic metaphor alone. It is a divine reality. There is a heavenly record of every tear. None is wasted. None are lost. Many times, we want strength to look like bold declarations and unwavering composure. But some of the strongest moments in our lives are the ones where we cry out with nothing but groans too deep for words. In those moments Heaven moves the Spirit intercedes. Something wholly begins to take root in the soil of brokenness. The miracle that is coming often grows in the ground watered by our tears. They soften the soil of resistance. They open the heart to humility. They break down pride and awaken longing. Tears prepare the heart. It is in the places of weeping that trust is forged. Not the kind of trust that forms when everything makes sense but with trust that survives when nothing does. The kind of trust that says even if I don’t see it, even if I don’t feel it, I still believe. Tears in this sacred place become a form of worship, not with lifted hands and loud songs, but with quiet surrender with reverence that cannot be faked. Heaven recognizes this kind of worship and is deeply moved by it. Sometimes we are waiting for joy to come before we pray, before we lift our eyes, before we continue. But it is the sorrow itself that draws us closer. It is the broken heart that God is near to. And in every tear, there is an invitation not just for healing but for intimacy to know the heart of God. Not just as sovereign, but as comforter to lean into the one who understands suffering, who bore sorrow, who wept Himself at the pain of death, and the loss of friends. Your tears do not repel Him, they draw Him close. There are miracles that only take root in the soil of suffering. There are breakthroughs that only blossom after a night of weeping and though we longed to skip over the dark valleys they often hold the richest encounters. The miracle may be delayed, but the tears are never in vain. They are preparing the atmosphere. They are softening your spirit. They are breathing compassion, resilience, and deeper understanding. When the miracle does arrive, it will not come to barren ground. It will come to a heart that has been tilled and watered by the deepest places of trust. In the kingdom of God nothing is wasted! God is working while you wait!” Amen! So be it!
JOYFUL House of Prayer, 2519 Quicksand Road, (P.O. Box 856), Jackson, Kentucky 41339. Send Comments/Prayer Requests: Pastornaomi4god@gmail.com. FB: JoyfulHoprayer. Services: 10am Sunday and Joyful Kids Class at 10:30am, 6:30pm Thursdays. Radio Broadcast: WJSN 97.3 FM & WEKG 81.0 AM Sundays 1-2pm.
