Have You Ever Experienced The Glory of God?

I have to brag for a moment about my niece who is graduating from high school in just a few weeks. Two years ago, her mother passed away after battling breast cancer for nearly five years. When we go through something as tragic as losing a loved one, it’s hard to pick up the pieces of life and persevere with a smile for the world to see. However, I must praise God for all that He has done through my niece, showing the rest of us how we can have joyful hearts and experience God’s glory even in the midst of our trials.
The list of my niece’s accomplishments surpasses anything written on my resume and I have lived many more years than her. But the accomplishment I’m most proud of is her faith. As I watch from the sidelines, God reveals to us His glory through her by observing how she lives life to its fullest despite what’s happened. It would be easier to remain in a state of grief after the passing of a loved one. We miss their presence and our hearts refuse to let them go. I remember shortly after my mom passed away, someone came up to me and said, “You act like she isn’t dead.”
My response must have baffled them when I replied, “That’s because she isn’t. She’s with the Lord.”
As Christians we say we believe in Jesus Christ who died for our sins and was resurrected three days later. And the Bible tells us after His resurrection, he appeared to His disciples and over five hundred witnesses for forty days before His final ascension into heaven. We say we believe in the promise of eternal life after our earthly lives have ended. But when we experience difficulties in our own lives, do what we say and what we believe become two different things? Trials can become times of testing when many will begin to question God’s promise. That’s when we quickly discover how useless our beliefs are when they’re not combined with faith. But when we do combine our beliefs with faith, God’s glory is revealed in our lives by the joy and peace that resides in our hearts.
My hope and prayer today is that every Christian experiences God’s glory, especially when going through trials. I can tell you firsthand that having joy in the midst of suffering is possible. I recognize God’s glory in my life when things seem like they're spiraling out of control and all I feel is God’s peace surrounding me.
I also pray for those who have never read the Bible and live in the shallowness of their faith, perhaps not able to recognize the glory of God working in their own life. Most importantly, I pray for those who don’t know Christ and believe that nothing exists beyond our earthly lives.
Praise God for the resurrection, the hope and everlasting life in the Kingdom of Heaven. May we all grow deeper in our faith by reading God’s Word and living as a reflection of His light for others to see. When we combine our beliefs with faith, we will experience firsthand God’s glory in our own lives.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
(John 3:16)