Week Seven | Upside Down
We’re here to help you learn and grow, so naturally, we share affiliate links for products that we use and love. When you click on one of these links, we will earn a small amount of money, at no additional cost to you, which we’ll use towards keeping the lights on here! You can read our full disclaimer here.
Week Four | It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way Online Bible Study
Reading Assignment – Chapters 11 & Epilogue/Update | Pages 208-229
Growing up, my grandma would always say, “Boys are nothing but trouble”, and we’d giggle as we looked in the direction of my Pap and my brother tinkering away with some piece of equipment.
She was right. They can be a headache sometimes, ha! So can life, but the pain it brings is more of a soul ache.
“To live is to love. To love is to risk pain. To risk pain is to live. It’s what it means to truly be human. As fragile as dust. The breaking of us. The making of us. The building up of our faith.”
Lysa TerKeurst | It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way (Pg. 211)
I would not trade the life I’ve lived, or the pain that I’ve experienced for anything else. The trials, the trauma, the joys and sorrow, they are the ingredients that make me, me. Just like Lysa’s baking analogy from chapter 11, if you took out any one of those ingredients, I wouldn’t be the woman that I am today. The woman that Jesus is softly molding and shaping.
And the same can be said of you, my friend. Your experiences, no matter how light or heavy they feel, whether they’re threatening to smash you into the dust you were formed from, or build you into the most beautiful creation, they are there to serve you (and others) as a testament of God’s goodness.
Dear sisters, when trouble of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. James 1:2-4
Trouble, it’s not something we want to find, in boys or in life, but if it established in me a deeper trust in the Lord, then you’ve gotta know that God is faithful. The trouble that trumped them all set in place a deep-rooted bitterness and anger within me, but by God’s mercy and gentle goodness, I have been led to a place where I can now find appreciation for that time in my life.
“Understanding how to consider it all pure joy rises and falls on whether we truly trust God in the middle of what our human minds can’t see as good at all. It’s hard.”
Lysa TerKeurst | It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way (Pg. 212)
Here me when I say this, friend:
Trust is easy to have when life is a masterpiece. Trust is hard when circumstances reduce you to dust. God is worth your trust, no matter what.
He is gonna take that mess and make it your message. He is molding you and making you into something, oh so good!
COMMUNITY CHAT
As we wrap up our study, we’d love to hear from you!
Identify – In this week’s reading we’re considering the goodness of God as we apply our trust in this upside-down world we’re living in.
How has this study impacted the way that you view suffering?
In the Word – This week’s Scripture focus comes from James 1:2-4. Download our weekly Scripture card. Print it and hang it in a place where you’ll come across it often this week, to aid in memorization.
Share with us in the comments; we’d love to hear from you!
Bree is a recovering perfectionist whose weaknesses include the dollar spot at Target and any pretty office supplies. Though she is an introvert, she has an insatiable craving for community and a desire to bring light to God’s purpose in the imperfections of life. Read More
