1 Chronicles 4: 9Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, c saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.”
I know someone who had it rough in his growing years. He sold newspaper in traffic while his mother lived from hand to mouth. Today, he's highly placed and his past life of sorrow had gone into oblivion. His present life doesn't reflect the sorrows and pains of the past. Another man that is known to me was once a motor boy in Lagos, Nigeria. He did all manners of hard labour while living with his elder brother just to make ends meet. Today, the story is no longer the same. We are familiar with the story of Jabez. He was a child of sorrow just as his name implies. The bible didn't tell us much about him but we can infer from the few verses written about him that his life was very rough and full of pains.
God can lift a poor man and make him dine with princes: "He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, even the princes of his own people!",Psalms 113:7-8 NLT. Hallelujah!!! You may be having it rough and hard. Life may be dealing you heavy blows of backwardness, stagnancy, joblessness, barrenness, and frustration, I'm glad to inform you that God can change your story. If God can change the story of Jabez, He will change your story.
Before Jabez's story changed, he did something. In verse 10 we were told that he cried to God: "Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request". To experience a change, you need to cry for it. You must crave and cry for it desperately. The prayer of a man that needs a radical change from bad to good must be intense and consistent. Jabez didn't complain about the economy neither did he shift blames on anyone. He asked for what he wanted and God granted his request.
Father, change my story(...insert the story you want God to change) and give me a testimony in Jesus name.