Deliverance vs. Development

I heard something from our Creative Pastor, Larry Hubatka that I just wanted to share and elaborate on. I think it is something that most of us have gone through during some point in our lives. It is this concept of Deliverance vs. Development. Often times we find ourselves going through some kind of struggle, time of discipline, uncertainty, abandonment, and/or anxiety. It becomes difficult to have a positive attitude and you just don't understand the purpose of what you are going through. We start to pray to God that He will remove the thing that we call a "burden" but in reality this burden is a blessing in disguise. What we want God to deliver us from God wants to use to develop us. Hosea 2:14-15 says, "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt." God will take you out into the wilderness...out into the desert but he will speak tenderly to us. He will take us through the Valley of "Trouble" with a door of hope. God must develop us in order to use us. Graham Cook says "The desert is about discovery." God will take us through the desert over and over again until we figure it out. We never go through something that God is not going to use for His purpose and plan. Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good for those who love Him. Be encouraged because the very thing that you are going through right now is by design from your Maker. He doesn't want us to miss the purpose of His development process.