Testing? Ugh...

Testing.  It's definitely not something most of us like.  From the time we are children in school we are conditioned to dread testing.  There's spelling tests and math tests, to the infamous ACT's and SAT's.  Just the other day my daughter was talking about impending APUSH, precalc, and AP Bio tests.  Throughout our lives we continue to go through testings, whether we realize it or not, and unfortunately whether we like it or not.

As I sat reflecting on this today I was reminded of portion of Scripture the Lord had placed in front of me recently.

These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan.  He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle.

These people were left to test the Israelites—to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses.

Judges 3:1-2, 4   NLT

We all have times of testing in our lives.  Even when we may appear to be on the top of the world and have it all together, each of us is still going through something.  Some testings are greater than others, but God is using each and every one of them to grow us and to prepare us for what is just around the bend and beyond our sight, just as he was preparing those Israelites for what He knew still lay before them, the battles yet to be fought.

You may not know exactly what God is preparing you for, 

       but what is it He is trying to teach you during this season of testing you are in right now?

Everything God does is for a purpose, everything God allows is for a purpose, even those icky times of testing.  Because in the end He wants each of us to succeed, just as every school teacher wants her students to succeed.  And just as that school teacher is preparing her students to be successful in "what's next", know my friend that God too is preparing you to be successful in whatever that "what's next" is.

So embrace those times of testing, 

as icky as they are, 

and know 

Your Father, who loves you, 

 is preparing you to SUCCEED!