Howard Goldthwaite

Tormentoring Howard Goldthwaite

GOD USES TORMENTORS TO STRENGTHEN US THE WAY THE ARMY USES DRILL SERGEANTS When the Lord uses godly people to teach us, that is called mentoring. When He uses mean people, painful trials, and thorns in the flesh, that is called tormentoring. Your mentors and your tormentors are both specifically brought into your life by God. A tormentor is something that hurts you but also helps you. Our tormentors weaken us and strengthen us at the same time. When God teaches us with tormentoring, it always hurts and it's never enjoyable. Every truly mature believer is familiar with how the process works. Painfully familiar. God teaches us things in the grip of adversity you can't learn in the lap of luxury. Many Christians don't consider suffering to be a growth opportunity, but it's one of the best. They think the only thing good about a trial is when it's over. But suffering is the closest thing to booster rockets for spiritual growth. The only way to benefit from suffering is if we refuse to let bitterness and anger distract from what we're supposed to learn. The only thing worse than suffering is to suffer and gain nothing. If you're going through a difficult time right now, you're probably filled with questions like: Why is this happening? What am I supposed to be learning from this? If God loves me, why hasn't He fixed the problem? The first lesson of tormentoring is that the presence of hardships does not mean the absence of God's love. God loves us just the way we are, but far too much to let us stay just the way we are. Our stubborn, deep-rooted sin nature doesn't evaporate the moment we become believers. He uses tormentors to help us learn His ways, and to unlearn the world's ways. If your goal is to become more like Christ, then every hardship helps you reach your goal. This uplifting, insightful book will help give purpose to the turmoil you're living with; as well as giving you hope, comfort, and courage for your journey ahead.