Betty: The very thing that is causing you to suffer is actually a friend, because it’s gonna make you realize that you are a creature in need of healing. You make mistakes, and at times you even sin.  But you don’t lay on the ground and bellyache. You know that God loves you, so you get up off the ground, dust yourself off and move on again. So, what’s happening to you is a good thing. It should be a cause  of rejoicing if you had all your ducks in a row. 

AM: But I don’t.

Betty: Then you cry out, “Jesus, help me become the person you’ve called me to be, to forgive myself, and to move on despite my imperfections.” See, the more God wants to make us like himself, the more we need to see our brokenness and need for Him. There’s the old story that talks about, “If you’re going to be a shrub, if that’s what God created you to be, then you don’t have to go through the trouble of establishing some of those very deep roots. Shallow roots are good enough for a shrub. But if God is calling you to be a mighty oak, or even a Sonoma or redwood, then you must have very deep roots. Because if you didn’t, you couldn’t stand for long.  So, if you want to just be a shrub, you don’t get humbled as much. because you won’t need to get that close to God. The closer you get to God, the more you must be purified. So, in some way, you can see where you really need to thank the Lord if he’s going out of his way to purify you, because maybe his plans are to bring you closer to Himself.