Kottayam, Kerala

I want to thank God for His faithfulness and goodness all through my life. First of all I want to thank God for His favor in my workplace. Recently I got selected as one of the top 15 Engineers of the year  in my company worldwide. It was humbling to see that the other ppl in the top 15 list were much experienced (senior leadership)and more capable than me!! Thanking God for giving me this achievement.
I was not planning to share the second part of this testimony but I saw the message from Ps. Luke in the church group that those who are going through trials can also share. I’m sharing this part since it may speak to some here. Right now I’m going through a very difficult time.Trials or sufferings are not new to me. It comes and goes at different seasons. Even before I became a believer and after!! Right from the time I came to faith, I had to face multiple trials including my father’s death and painful isolation by my own relatives!! There were multiple trials after that sometimes happened by my own bad choices. Trials comes and goes. From all these trials,I realised that after the trial is past when I look back, I lost an opportunity to trust God and show my faithfulness to Him. As I told, I’m going through a very difficult time. Ps.George and Ps. Luke are guiding me and watching my life closely. This time I decided to make a choice  to trust Him. I turned to Him in repentance and I’m convicted by God that I need to make some things right even in these difficulties. A tough one for me!!
I used to go to Psalms for my comfort in trials and it truly comforts me but in the New Testament there are very relevant verses which instructs us to get into action. As in 1Peter4:19 “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” Even though this verse talks from the context of persecution,every believer goes through trials which may be of lesser extent. 
‭‭I was struggling with forgiveness. I got to read from a book that “Forgiveness is like a prison in which you are kept behind the bars but the keys are inside and you just need to open and be free”. God convicted me to be free from all my bitterness against people who have almost destroyed my life. It was difficult to obey Him in forgiving people but by His grace I could forgive and even could seek their forgiveness. According to Ps.George, an act of radical obedience!! 
Next thing I wanted to make right was on my attachment to money matters. I struggled to part away with my money even in my good times. Though going through a tough time,by His grace I started giving sacrificially to those people who are in need. It was tough for me as if like I’m giving off a part of my life. Once I entrusted to Him my desire to give and started giving, it was truly a fulfilling and an enriching experience. In between doing these right things,I got selected for the award. I’m not telling that I got the award because I did these right things. But I would say God is good in our good times and much more good in our bad times. It’s just difficult to trust Him in our bad times and all the more difficult to do good or what is right. But thanking God that He helped me by His grace!! 
I want to end  by reading from ‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:6-7‬  “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
In trials, it was easy for me to get into a shell,do nothing, be angry and filled with bitterness against God and people around but it’s truly rewarding when I started to trust Him and do good or do what is right. If I can show my faithfulness and Love to Him, the best time is in my trials!! I believe God is testing my faith and refining in me a character for eternity.