Three Truths About Bitter Circumstances That Will Help You Through Them

No matter who we are or what stage of life we’re in, life is always a little different than what we expect it to be. People disappoint, circumstances change, and we’re left wondering what God is up to during this time. But we do have hope, even in the darkest moments, because we can trust that God will always be up to something.

Here are three truths from Bishop Milton C. Grannum’s new book, Bitter Water to Fine Wine, that will help you navigate through your bitter waters and get inspired by what God is doing in the background.

1. Bitter waters in our lives are often used by God to push us out of our comfort zone and into a better place.

Bishop Grannum shares: “I was pushed out of my home because of my commitment to a church that was perceived to have no meaningful future for me. The pain of that event eventually helped me make some significant decisions and discoveries about life.

After a number of years, efforts, and experiences, I discovered that the true meaning and magic of life does not emerge while one lives in the active pursuit of comfort. Many people spend their best years in the confines of dwindling comfort zones. Our culture wires us for safety and limitations, and away from productive decision-making and risk-taking. False security and social approval have become the objects of the natural drive of many individuals. I chose not to be satisfied with the option of tiptoeing through life.

Pain rightly handled can produce both power and peace. Of course, I always had the option of reacting and wallowing in self-pity. I chose instead to put my faith in God and allow Him to direct my path.

2. Every setback is a potential setup. God uses our worst experiences to help us grow.

As I look back on my life, I went through may bitter waters. I was beaten by my own family members for the ‘crime’ of attending church. I was ridiculed by other students at school for doing chores for my pastor as a “tithe” to the church. Shortly after arriving in Philadelphia, I was arrested without cause, spent a night in a dirty, smelly jail cell, and released without apology by a judge who told me, ‘Go home and behave yourself.’

We can go through life reflecting and thinking of all the pain, the challenges, the disappointments, the let-downs and the trauma of our journey, or we can believe that turning bitter water into wine is possible, and trust God for the miracles.

As an example, who walks into a donut shop and complains about the holes? No, we buy donuts, knowing that every donut has a hole. The same is true with every experience in life. To focus all our attention on the challenging and painful holes that come our way is to rob ourselves of the personal strength and power of the total experience. Over the decades, my wife and I have sought to stay focused on the donuts, lest we get distracted and overwhelmed by the holes.

3. Bitter waters point out both areas of need and the subsequent areas for growth.

The shortage of wine was a massive faux pas that did not impact Jesus intimately, but it produced a need that became Jesus’s project. Likewise, meaningful projects and new paths emerge when pressing needs are discovered, regardless of where the needs occur or who they impact.

When bitter waters reveal needs around us, we are forced to make a decision to either address the need or ignore it. We are either pushed forward in growth or backward and downward. We are given the choice which way we move. And oftentimes, our choices impact other people as well as our own future.

For Jesus, the first miracle led to further ministry opportunities and revealed who He was. In our own lives, we sometimes miss the fact that God may very well be the one stirring the waters to push us forward to something miraculous.

Take a moment now and look back at your life. Focus on the faithfulness of God to you, in spite of you, and realize that it was God stirring up the waters, irritating your spirit, creating a change, moving people to push you when all the while you were blaming and rebuking Satan. Satan hates faith. He knows the awesome power of faith. Move forward in faith to change your water into wine. Do it now!”

Still not convinced? Bishop Grannum’s new book, Bitter Water to Fine Wine, further dives into his experiences that prove God is not absent during these times, but instead, is working in the background to do great miracles. Bishop Grannum shows how Christ can change the bitterest setbacks of life into sweet setups for victory and growth—but only if we let go and give Him full control. BUY NOW