Many years ago I heard a simple message from Victoria Osteen about transforming everything in your heart to a treasure. She talked how we treasure the good experiences and we remember them with nostalgia. On the other hand we want to forget the bad experiences and never tried to find something good out of it. We tend to hide them deep inside our hearts and only used them to hurt ourselves over and over again. Bad experiences scar us and we tend to hide them away without looking at the other side of the experience. BELIEVE it or NOT, bad experiences do have something that can be treasured and is the fact of experiencing something and learning from it. It is like looking at the other side of the coin.
I recall hearing so many stories of challenges and difficult times in our lives during our last CAFELATE and how we have survived it and now are stories of inspiration to ourselves and others. It is in that ultimate moment that we decide to allow those bad experiences to empower us, help others and keep us close to God in which they turn to be TREASURE in our hearts.
I recall my first few years of marriage in which I found myself not having the marriage I dreamed of and where I found myself having more differences than similarities with my husband. Where I found that I need to be strong and take control of my marriage and my situation. It was the hardest years of my life because I was also becoming a mother and juggling two new stages in my life was very difficult. There were times when I was ready to give up in my marriage. It has not been an easy road maybe because I am not an easy person to get along with………………..LOL……….. Without the support of my family, church and friends it would have been more difficult to understand and bear. God gave me and continues to give me the strength to make it through all the stages in my life. Maybe everything is not the way I probably expected it would be but through it all the lessons I have learned have become a TREASURE in my heart. Ask me in a few years how I made through my kids teenage years……………..That is another story……..LOL.
TREASURE is anything that you hold in high regards and/or treat as precious. Once you decided that an experience, no matter how difficult it may seem, will be cherished, it will become a TREASURE of surpassable value.
I have a co-worker who has gone through a great deal of very difficult experiences from a sick child to infidelity in her marriage and all at the same time. She did not know how tomorrow will look for her but she decided to hang on to God and allow him to steer her life. It was very difficult for her to speak about her experiences with others but now she even amazes herself how she is using her experiences as way of inspiration to others. She has turned these experiences in to her very own TREASURE and as the years go by she will look and admire what she has gained.
Proverbs 4:23 says:
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
I would like for you to respond to this BLOG with a specific situation and/or experience that you felt you have turned into a TREASURE. Better yet, for those who have not had that opportunity, to share an experience in your life (you don’t have to give all the details) in which is still being a scar in your heart and you will like to turn into a TREASURE. After you shared an experience and you will like to do another posting with encouraging words to someone else’s posting feel free to do so.
Let’s go TREASURE HUNTING!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
I can recall (of several times) this one time in my life where I had to make a choice of keep going and doing what I had set my heart and mind to or listen to God's request that I not go that path and instead trust that he had something better for me. I was quite young and it was difficult to turn my back on what I thought was my future and go the way God was leading me without knowing where or what that was.
But my mind was made up and if all else failed I knew God would not fail me and I knew it was better to follow God with blind folds on then to go my way. And boy I have never and will never regret the choice I made. God saw me thru the difficult times when I thought I would give up, he always found a way to say "I'm here just hang in there". That experience in my life I have turned in to treasure, because I learned to depend on God.
BECKY'S TREASURE---Depending on God going BLIND folded.
Many of us always say that we depend on God to guide us through difficult situations but how difficult it is to put into practice. Sometimes our friends, relatives and even our heart tells something but God tells us something else and what do we REALLY do? Most people use that saying "go where your heart leads you" and that it most cases works out great but when it is completely against God will it's when our emotions can BETRAY us.
Becky, thanks for sharing such a valuable and powerful TREASURE. Let's all put it into practice DEPENDING ON GOD GOING BLIND FOLDED.
Let's stay connected!
En el caminar de mi vida, he tenido muchas experiencias que me han marcado. Marcas que me han hecho crecer y madurar espiritualmente. Cuando era joven, yo no sabia la importanica de tomar los problemas y conflictos como una leccion de vida. Si me pongo a relatar y testificar de mi vida, no terminaria hoy. Pero si me gustaria compartir, como pude encontrar un tesoro preciado en mi vida. Como todos los matrimonios yo he tenido mis problemas y diferencias con mi esposo. Hace mucho tiempo atras discutiamos mucho, al punto que mi corazon se estaba amargando. No me daba cuenta que el enemigo queria destruir mi hogar. Todo comenzo a cambiar cuando me rendi ante Dios y le suplique asi "Señor dame mas amor para mi esposo, quita todo aquello que este impidiendo la armonia y la paz de este hogar. Sana mi corazon." pero lo mas lindo fue cuando le dije a Dios. "Señor cambiame a mi." Wow! siempre pedia que lo cambiara a el y ahora le pedia que me cambiara a mi. Dejame decirles mis queridas hermanas, desde ese momento comenze a ver las cosas desde otro punto de vista. Dios empezo a obrar en mi de manera poderosa. Ese tesosro escondido de amor y pasiencia para mi esposo comenzo a salir. No les niego que he tenido mis diferencias con el, ¿quien no las tiene? Pero nada se compara a lo de antes. Lo amo con todas las fuerzas de mi corazon, y le doy graciss a Dios por haberme permitido encontrar el tesoro de amor en mi corazon para con mi esposo."Donde esta tu tesoro alli estara tu corazon" Mateo 6:19
MARGARITA's TREASURE- Learning how to ask God for YOU in the mist of a problem or situation.
Wow Margarita, ¡que experiencia muy real!
We as human beings tend to ask God for others to fix our problems and sometimes what is needed is for us to change our perspective. Like the famous saying "there is always another side of the story" we need to begin taking responsibility in a problem or situation whether is a relationship, work, friendship and so on. Once we are able to accomplish this with God's help and guidance, the problem will turn around for the better.
Let us put into practice ASKING GOD FOR US first IN THE MIST OF THE PROBLEM or situation.
Let's stay connected.
Hola Mujeres Lindas!
I have been blessed to be married to the best husband ever. We have experienced trying times, not necessarily with our relationship but with situations that have hit our lives. One of the first ones was getting pregnant for the first time and experiencing a miscarriage. That was the first time something so big had happened in my life. I immediately questioned God, asking him WHY?? As I visited him in my prayer time, I began to realize that I was asking the wrong question. Although an answer for why would have been nice, I learned that most importantly was to ask HOW? How will this situation help me grow? How will this situation help me learn more about me and who I am in Christ. If I were to label this hidden treasure it would be, "Lord, how will this situation help me grow and in turn help others?"
This is such a valuable lesson because since then I have had other situations that have affected me deeply but instead of getting into a "why pity party", I've known that in everything God has a purpose and I just need to be in the right place of mind to hear his voice.
Be blessed!
Sileni
SELENI's TREASURE----Asking HOW instead of WHY.
In my job (I know Josie and Damaris can identify with this) we take a trainig called MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING and is basically about teaching us how to ask questions to get solution focused answers. I think this is what Seleni has learned to do. Instead of trying to find the reason WHY it happened, you learn HOW to overcome the situation with very little scarring.
Let us learn to ask HOW and have a solution focused approach to the situation. Learning to do this actually becomes kind of an art and becomes more natural as the situations occur.
Let's stay connected!
I know I'm one of the youngest damas here... and many people probably think that I am very naive... but I have gone through different situations in my past that have certainly made me a better person. I wasn't the "typical christian young girl" in school. When I got to High School I started hanging out with the wrong crowd which led me to many MANY mistakes/problems with my family and even church. If I could go back and erase what I did in the past I would do it in a heartbeat!! :) Just because I know how much trouble I caused. But since this blog is about making bad experiences a 'treasure' then I can say that "YES, I've been there..." and now I can talk to other jovenes about my experiences and how I got to where I am now. I think I can use my testimonio to help others... Just like my mom (Margarita) and Sileni have mentioned. Well, that's it!
God bless you all!!
Vero
VERO's TREASURE--I have been there and know how it is! Sharing the KNOWLEDGE gained from going thru some difficult situations.
Vero, this is the beginning of your journey of good and bad experiences but it is when we can turn them to TREASURE that we are edified, no matter how difficult they were. The experiences that you have gone through as a adolescent are very valuable for other teenagers whether they seem to take it seriously or not. BELIEVE or NOT, we as parents of teenagers are grateful to people like you that are willing to share those experiences for their own good.
Let us put into practice THE KNOWLEDGE received from the experiences to help our youth and others.
Let's stay connected!
My post is way overdue...I have to say I procrastinated on this one. But here it is...
After Kayla was born...to my surprise I found myself battling the "baby blues." I tried brushing it off saying to myself that it was normal but it got worse. I have always considered myself a strong person emotionally, but while I was in that period I felt inadequate in every part of my life. No one knew of this except my husband...it was an awful time for me. I truly cried out to God and begged him to take away those feelings of inadequacy because I knew they didn't come from him.
My treasure from that experience was gratitude to God of course for restoring me but also to my husband and Maria Rentas. She doesn't know this but I remember during that time she would always ask me how I was doing and would tell me (at least on 2-3 occasions) "I am praying for you" Something simple, but it helped so much to know that someone else was carrying me in prayer during that time. Having "Godly women" interceding for you can turn any trouble into a treasure. That is what we are here for--to pray and intercede for each other. When someone comes to your mind in prayer, pray and intercede for them in that moment because we never know who may be suffering in silence.
Post a Comment