Joel Osteen - Grow Through It

You can't pray away everything that's uncomfortable. God uses difficulties, delays, and inconveniences to do a work in us. And if the situation is not changing, maybe God is using the situation to change you. He wouldn't have allowed it if he didn't have a purpose for it. Don't just go through it, upset, bitter, offended, grow through it. That's an opportunity to get stronger, to develop your character, to build your spiritual muscles, 'cause we don't grow so much in the good times. We grow in the difficult times.

And if you keep letting the same people offend you, same traffic upset you, the same challenges steal your joy, then you're going to get stuck. You're going through it, try a better approach, grow through it.

The mistake the Israelites made out in the desert is they didn't grow through it. They didn't pass the test. They thought the delay was a bad break, when in fact, it was God protecting them. Don't be do like the Israelites and go the next 40 years letting the same things upset you, same people offend you, same traffic frustrate you, same compromise defeat you. That's going through it. I'm asking you to grow through it. Instead of waiting it for it to change, why don't you change?

Joseph wasn't just going through it, he was growing through it. His attitude was, "This is where God has me, so, I'm going to shine. It's not fair, I don't understand it, but God I trust you, I believe that you're ordering my steps".

Now, keep being faithful, keep doing the right thing when you're uncomfortable. You don't understand it. It's not fair. Don't just go through it, grow through it. It's doing something on the inside of you. It's getting you prepared for something that you've never seen.

It may be unfair, you don't understand it. Don't just go through it, grow through it. God sees what's happening. He sees who did you wrong. He sees what didn't work out. He sees the medical report. That's not how story ends. That's one chapter in the book that he's written for your life. There are many great chapters up ahead.