A Personal Reflection on the Sermon
By Lyneth Carani


In reality, life is a series of events...full of surprises big and small that transform into many kinds of challenges. It can be interesting, inspiring, motivating and exciting but more often what stays in our hearts and minds are those difficult circumstances or situations that disappoint, discourage and very much hurt us at times.

While I was seated last Sunday listening to Pastor Edwin’s messages, my situation flashed and worked into my mind. Whether the message was coincidental to me or not, it has brought me to think and to ask myself: “Am I still locked up or am I almost there getting ready to be set free? Am I able to see the unique opportunity of serving God in my difficulty or did I just simply ignored it because of the pain that it has brought me?” I do agree, life can be difficult for any number of reasons; consequences of our sin, someone else’s sin or circumstances that are no one's fault. Admit it or not, we even make excuses for why we think things won’t happen instead of thinking about how they might happen, especially when we follow an Almighty God. Going through a difficult situation, a suffering or some pain is not easy. But let us remember that it is not a sign that God doesn’t care, it is simply a fact of life in this world we live in.

Psalm 22:24 says, “For He has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”

God understands and knows our trouble and therefore he will come to us and help us. Let us check our own limitations so that it will not cause us to doubt God’s ability to work through us. Keep in mind that our difficult circumstances are just a testing of our faith and it may be a target for Satan who wants to disrupt our Godly influence and to discourage us. And when that time comes our way let us not waiver upon God’s promises that He will be with us in the midst of whatever we are struggling with. Let us believe that He who began a good work in us, he will also complete it. He may not remove the difficulty from us but He does promise to help us go through it. So our responsibility then is to discern what will bring praise to God and to stick to it. Life has challenges because God wants us to endure, develop greater wisdom, integrity, and courage to face whatever comes our way. It is in our difficult circumstances, problems, and challenges that we grow the most. This is when our character is stretched, our faith strengthened and our compassion for others developed.

My difficult circumstances threatened and overwhelmed me at first. But thanks be to God for the brethren, friends and family who kept on praying for me and I was able to see God’s perspective. I slowly learned to get out of my ‘prison bars’ and use the situation for God’s glory. One thing I’ve learned, there’s still a reason to praise God even in the midst of difficult circumstances because now I know they are God’s tool in bringing us to greater strength and maturity.

And as Paul saw his time in prison as an opportunity to witness to the soldiers who guarded him let us continue to view our challenges, our difficult circumstances as occasions for our spiritual growth. Praise the Lord!


Note: Lyneth Carani leads the Music Team of the 3.30PM Sunday Worship Service. Lyneth is also a committed small group leader of the Choa Chu Kang Koinonia.