Moulded through Trials

Imagine getting everything you ever wanted. Money, fame, looks etc. You aced every test without ever having to study. You were the cheer captain, the head prefect, the house captain, the basketball captain; you were everybody's dream. You got the job you wanted without trying, you got promoted for no reason, you got extra bonuses. You won lottery after lottery. You had a perfect life- perfect family, perfect children, perfect career. You had no problems and no worries.

But would you have needed God?

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1 : 2-4

People whine about how unfair life is all the time. Many people find themselves asking God "why me?". Every time I face a difficulty, I find myself complaining. There are many times I just sweep the problem under the carpet because I don't want to deal with it. However, I find that it is through my most difficult moments that God is the most real to me.

A friend asked me once if I had ever tried telling God to "Break me and mould me, Lord". I thought about it and decided one day to ask Him to really break and mould me. Suddenly, I had to face SO many problems. It was like everything was going wrong all at once and I had no choice but to trust that God knew what He was doing. And I realized that through all those trials, He was always there for me. It was through all those problems that I felt His presence the most and learned to trust in Him no matter what. It was through those difficulties that He broke and moulded me.

A song in the spectrum of praise goes:

Thank you Lord
For the trials that come my way
In that way I can grow each day
As I let You lead

Here's a story I found quite interesting:


A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.

But it had a swollen body and small shrivelled wings.

The man expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened!

The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shrivelled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening was nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Many times, struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we went through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

We would never fly.

Think about it. God bless.

- Phoebe Lim