On April 17, 2011, shortly after midnight, my husband drove me to the emergency room with classic symptoms of heart attack and stroke. My chest throbbed. I felt light-headed and short of breath. The entire right side of my body – including even the right side of my tongue – felt numb. And my right hand trembled uncontrollably.

At the time, I was one of the pastors at our church in Pennsylvania. It had been an intense ministry season, including Easter and impending deadlines. My mother had died seven weeks before. The weekend before my symptoms, I led a rewarding but exhausting Encounter Retreat for our church. The night my symptoms hit, my husband and I had just returned from a whirlwind vacation in Gettysburg.

During my three days in the hospital, medical staff ran multiple tests. They never determined the cause of my symptoms. However, two years later, my stamina was still only about two-thirds what it had been.

In mid-2013 realized I could no longer do my job as a pastor. And that made me realize that my identity was unhealthily defined by my ministry role, so that shook my world.

What trials are you facing?

We all experience life’s trials – big and small! You might even be in the midst of one right now!

And incidentally, when trials are at least partially our fault, we realize we need to learn from it and move forward, but we’re not always sure how to do that.

But regardless of whether your own particular trials are partially our own fault or not, the Bible has encouragement for us.

Romans 8:28 says, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

Through every trial, God brings good, and we never lose our purpose in Him.

So here is one simple question you can ask yourself to turn your trials into triumphs:

“What are the possibilities for this trial?”

Below are the possibilities that God brought to fruition through my medical trial:

• To get healthy, I established rhythms of work, recreation, and rest.
• Because I could no longer derive my identity from my ministry role, I learned more about who I really am. That led to getting a life coach.
• As I experienced life coaching and learned that divine calling is both being and doing, I got excited about coaching, writing, and teaching, to help others find and fulfill their own divine calling. And now I’m doing that!
• I would have experienced none of these blessings without the medical trial. Four years after the emergency room, I still didn’t know why God hadn’t fully restored my health. But He continued to fill my heart with exciting possibilities for the future. And today, my health is fully restored!

Here are five different kinds of trials, and what God typically does in each one:

• During waiting, God develops your identity.
• When you fail, God teaches you grace.
• During hardship (i.e. finances, health, work, relationships), God builds your faith and strength.
• During grief, God increases your gratitude.
• When you sin, God develops your character.

What are God’s possibilities in your current trial?

Feel free to comment or ask questions below.