It's inevitable for people to experience some sort of setback as they go through life. However, popular Christian speaker and author Joel Osteen believes that God has bigger plans in store for people despite the roadblocks they encounter.
"Sometimes, we're going along in life and everything is great, but then we hit a bump on the road — we lose a loved one, a relationship doesn't work out, the business goes down. We don't understand what happened. But... those bumps happen at a threshing floor. When you come out, you're not going to be the same," he wrote in his blog.
Osteen explained that the threshing floor is not only a place of separation, but it is also a place of preparation. "You're going to be refined with less chaff and more wheat. If you look back over your life, the times when you really grew, when you came up higher and developed more confidence, wasn't in the good times when everything was going your way; it was the times when you hit a bump in the road," he stressed.
Indeed it is difficult for people to look at the bright side of things when they are feeling down or defeated, but Osteen is nonetheless encouraging people to have faith that God will not let bad things happen without a good reason.
"You couldn't see it in the moment, but you were at a threshing floor. God used that to refine you, and you came out better," he said. "That threshing floor is not defeating you, it's preparing you. You may have lost something, but you need to get ready. You're about to gain something a whole lot better. God is getting you prepared for something amazing."
Osteen added that during those moments of defeat, people need to use the strength they have in God to get their fires and passions back.
"You may have fallen, but it's time to get back up. You're prepared; you're qualified; you're refined, and what God started, He's going to complete in you!" he assured.
