So I was giving my cat a bath today….yeah I know smart huh…… and I noticed that when ever I put her in or near the water she would go crazy. She would use every surface available to try and get away from the water. She would claw, climb, jump, any thing she could use to get away. She did not understand that although getting a bath was a very unpleasant experience (for both her and I ) it was necessary to do. She did not see the end result during the bath all she saw/felt was the agony she had to go through in that moment.
It reminded me of the verse in the bible which talked about refining gold (note to self look up verse!).At times we as humans (like my cat) only focus on the agony the pain we are going through today. We often forget to look down the road to the future and see the good that can come out of today’s trial. I know that personally I have been through hardships that at the time I wished would go away and that I would not have to go through, but now in the future I look at myself and I see how I have grown.
My trust and walk with God has become deeper and stronger. Although I did go through hard times I would not trade them, Because God has used those hardships to make me a better person. now I have my testimony to give to others who are going through the same thing, that yes with God they can make it through. So to all of you out their going through a hard time, remember look to the future because you may not see the silver lining in the cloud now but someday you will be able to say “that made me a better person”.
Thanks Abby this was really uplifting to me today. I too have tried to give a cat a bath! Not easy. . .
You make some good points, Abby. I’d like to add that not only do we often go through the pain of being given a bath we don’t want, we also have to go through the utter shame of walking around with wet, clumpy, water laden fur. Even after we’ve come through the trouble, we can still look terrible. But we have to allow God to groom us so we can shine beautifully again.
Hmmm..I’ve never bathed my cat and hes about 13 years old. Am I suppose to?! Something to think about though, although we go through tough stuff God is there to pull us through if we let him.