Maybe This Difficult Place Is a Divine Assignment

What if the difficult place you’re in today isn’t just something you need to get through?

What if it’s somewhere God wants to shine through you? Most of us spend difficult seasons asking God to change our circumstances.“Lord, get me out of here.” “Lord, fix this.” “Lord, open another door.” “Lord, make this easier.” And there’s nothing wrong with praying for God to move. But sometimes, while we’re asking God to change our location, God is trying to use our light right where we are.

Jesus said:“You are the light of the world.” — Matthew 5:14 Light has its greatest impact in dark places. Maybe that difficult workplace is an assignment. Maybe that challenging relationship is an assignment. Maybe that season you never would have chosen is an assignment. Maybe you’re surrounded by people who desperately need to see what faith looks like when life isn’t easy. It’s easy to shine when everything is going well. But there is something powerful about a person who can still worship when life hurts. Still love when people are difficult. Still serve when they’re tired. Still forgive when they’ve been wounded. Still trust God when they don’t understand what He’s doing.

Your response to the darkness may become someone else’s introduction to the Light.

Joseph probably didn’t view the prison as his preferred ministry assignment. Paul and Silas probably didn’t put a Philippian jail cell on their ministry calendar. Yet God used them exactly where they were. Sometimes the place you’re praying to escape is the very place where somebody needs what God has placed inside of you. So maybe the prayer changes today. Instead of only praying: “God, get me out of this.” We begin praying: “God, use me in this.”

Show me who needs encouragement. Show me who needs kindness. Show me who needs prayer. Show me who needs to see Jesus through the way I respond. You may not have chosen where you are today. You may not understand why you’re there. And you may still be praying for the season to change. But until God moves you, shine where He has placed you.

Don’t waste the difficult place. Don’t underestimate what God can do through your attitude, your faithfulness, your compassion, and your presence. That difficult place may not just be a place of frustration. It may be a divine assignment.

So walk into today with a different perspective: “Lord, if You have me here today, let Your light shine through me while I’m here.”