More Trials, More Happiness

“In the multitude of my [anxious] thoughts within me, Your comforts cheer and delight my soul” (Ps 94:19 AMP)! How happy are those who know what sorrow means, for they will be given courage and comfort (Matt 5:4 Phillips)!

FATHER, nearer to You brings more happiness and getting nearer to You comes from deep trials and afflictions, they are ____’s heralds of weighty mercies. The more humble (he/she) is through these trials the more true comfort You can give (him/her) because (he/she) is more fit to receive it (ref#34, Feb 12th AM).

If (he/she) be a branch of Your Son, the True Vine, then You are the Vinedresser and will prune (him/her) with afflictions so (he/she) is able to bring forth fruit (John 15:1-2). Convince (him/her), FATHER, to rejoice in all tribulations because pruning brings such precious results (ref#34, Jan 22nd PM). “…even sorrows turn to blessings when they make us less attached to the earth and more attached to God” (ref#73, June 5th).

The churches of Macedonia province proved the theory of “more trials, more happiness”:

“Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could — far more than they could afford! — pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians. This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives” (2 Cor 8:1-5 MSG).