It's Not Supposed to Be This Way Video Bible Study

Humans are attached to outcomes. We feel certain how things should turn out. We say we trust God, but behind the scenes we work our our emotions into a tangled fray trying to control our outcomes. We praise God when our normal looks like we expected; we question God when it doesn't. Which aspects of life as it's supposed to be are you yearning for most...innocence, needs, confidence or vision?

Feeling the pain is the first step toward healing the pain. To progress toward healing we must make some holy exchanges. We want God to take away our pain; God wants to develop our character. We want God to make our circumstances better for our own version of good; God wants to take our healing to help others. We want to know all the reasons; God wants us to know Him more and develop deeper trust.

We can encounter a long season of disappointment because of problems placed on us, or problems within us. Both find their ultimate solution at the cross. Jesus offers healing and forgiveness for both. Having to endure a long season of disappointment isn't a cruel way to keep you from God's promise; it's the exact preparation you'll need to handle the promise.

Sin breaks trust. Therefore, we can't expect God to entrust a calling to us before we go through the four steps of restoration: full confession, cleansing, having a new heart created in place of our broken heart, and calling. When trust has been shattered, it has to be rebuilt over time. We can focus on learning about the compassionate nature of God and how to extend that compassion to others.

The enemy wants us to have an eroded trust in God and an elevated trust in ourselves. We fear God won't provide what we need, want, or deserve, so we justify getting these things our own way. Be careful about trying to be true to yourself...make sure you're not being true to your most unhealthy self, but to your most surrendered, healed, and healthy self.

Kingdom-minded means there's a purpose to your pain that has implications for God's kingdom. You may never know the answer to "Why?" in this lifetime, but two of the may possible purposes for your pain are to make you mature and complete, and to equip you to comfort others. Eternally focused means there are unseen and eternal things at work in our lives that far outweigh the temporary and seen.