“Karen’s Notes!
Insights from a Glory-Bound Lady”

Selected Notes
Volume 5 Number 29 “Our Experiences Are Never Wasted”
July 20th, 2022

Have you ever wondered why something has happened to you? Have you ever had a respectful but tender conversation with the Lord asking Him why He allowed this and what is the purpose for me going through this?

I don’t want to make profound situations appear to be insignificant. I really don’t. Karen and I have experienced profound situations, and frankly, it was very hurtful to us when someone glibly said a little cliché and trotted off. So, my friends, I promise not to throw glibly a meaningless, hard-hearted cliché.

I’ve been looking at Karen’s notes that she taught at a Ladies’ Retreat a number of years ago. This retreat was designed and advertised by the host church for ladies who were hurting, undergoing trials or hardships, or even walking through grief. At one point in the conference Karen referred to a specific verse and shared from her heart the lessons she was still learning on the road with the precious Refiner.

Let me share the verse, and then I’ll explain how different “Karen’s Notes” will be today.

The verse is Job 23:10 which reads, “But He knows the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

Karen then shared her testimony concerning our four-year-old little boy Jeffrey who underwent many open-heart surgeries, and on his last and final surgery went Home to be with the Lord. She was very honest about her heart-shattering experience, but also about how the Lord Himself had demonstrated the truth of Job 23:10 over and over again.

What an impact apparently that conference made. Here is a tiny part of a packet of thank you notes that she received. Karen received many thank you notes. I’ve shared a few with you before. Please allow me to share a short part of this one.

Part of a thank you note Karen received after this retreat: You gave us all much encouragement. It definitely was a blessing to be part of this retreat with you. I had a long heart-to-heart talk with my husband last night. It was the first time that we could both say what we felt. Suddenly he opened up and I could honestly tell him how I felt. He actually listened to me and understood. He said it was because he had remembered hearing about Jeffrey.

Michael’s observation: Karen would NEVER want me to share something in such a way as to glorify her. But I share this to demonstrate the reality of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

I have come to understand that instead of asking God WHY He allowed me to experience this, I am learning to rely on His help and to ask Him WHO will He bring across my path that will relate and to whom I can minister. Friends, your experiences are never wasted and may just indeed be the very thing that can be used of the Lord to bring changes in the lives of people you meet.