Bitter is Better! Before you think I'm crazy and click away, please let me explain.

Bitter is Better

As a Youngster

I ate chocolate in any color or shape: white chocolate, milk chocolate, cocoa puffs, chocolate chips, chocolate bark, chocolate bunnies, you name it. As long as it was chocolate and it was sweet I was all for it.

Once I was Married

After we were married and I began having children, all of that changed. My taste for the soft creamy milk chocolate and the strikingly sweet white chocolate disappeared. The dark bitter chocolate became the only one I could truly enjoy.

What Changed?

I changed! I'm not a scientist or a nutritionist, but as a mature adult, I understood the benefits of the antioxidants that the dark chocolate contained. I realized the dangers of higher sugar levels in the other chocolates. Through life experiences (and physical and hormonal changes) I had acquired a taste for the bitter. Bitter IS better! And to this day it remains my preference.

My Spiritual Life is Similar

In my spiritual life, I have found the same to be true. As a young Christian, I wanted all the sweetness there was to be found. I desired the milk of the Word, the sweetness of the fellowship, the days when praise came easy. As I matured, and the Lord continued transforming my heart through life experiences and greater knowledge of Himself, I began to realize that Bitter IS better.

In the bitter times, I seek my Lord more. I depend on Him more and talk to Him more. I am more aware of my own shortcomings, and of His awesome greatness. It is in the God-ordained bitter times when He most often grows me and changes me to reflect more of Himself. In the bitterness, I taste more of the sweetness of His savor. Yes! Bitter IS better!

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (I Corinthians 13:11)

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

If you are in a bitter time, keep trusting. Seek the sweetness. God will not forsake you. Have you come through a bitter time? Please share as an encouragement to others, I welcome you to share in the comments.