As I sit here, very impatiently for my sheets to dry (I forgot to put them in the dryer earlier…so annoyed with myself) I decided to write a little something else. I think as Christians we think that because we are Christians and "oh so holy"... bad stuff can't touch us. We picture our little family with 2.5 kids in a big home with a green lawn and a white picket fence. Well, that's just not reality people. Sorry to burst your bubble. Bad stuff happens to good people, and sometimes we really don't know why, just like Job. But, it's in those times when we need to put our serious faces on and truly and with every cell in our being rely on God. I found this little compare and contrast in my bible and I’ll add a little bit too, but I just thought it was so great. (I am copying word for word, so I don’t know what counts or doesn’t count as plagiarism, but whatever…)
Suffering is helpful when:
-We turn to God for understanding, endurance, and deliverance.
-We ask important questions we might not take time to think about in our normal routine
-We let it prepare us to identify with and comfort others who suffer
-We are open to being helped by others who are obeying God
-We realize we can identify with what Christ suffered on the cross for Us
-We are sensitized to the amount of suffering in the world
Suffering is Harmful when:
-We become hardened and bitter
- We refuse to ask any questions and miss any lessons that might be good for us
-We allow it to make us self-centered and selfish
-We withdraw from the help others can give
-We accuse God of being unjust and perhaps lead others to reject him
We refuse to be open to any changes in our lives
I just thought this was such a great contrast to the ways we can react to life. Honestly, sometimes things we don’t like happen, but it’s in those times that we not only see who we will rely on, but also who we come out being at the end of that seemingly never-ending tunnel. Still only being 19, I myself have seen some battles, most being completely out of my hands. I was 11 when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I have been on and off several regimens of one med after the other, and this past year I had 3ft of my intestine removed. There have been days where I joyfully am climbing or kayaking or doing whatever else I can do, and some days where simply picking something up is too hard for my joints to manage. Among other things, I have seen and dealt with junk hitting myself and my family square in the face, but it was how we dealt with it. I never (at least I try very hard not to) crawl into a hole and curse out God. It’s just not who I am. I know I wouldn’t be the same young woman of God I am now if it wasn’t for things that have happened in my life, especially for the way I reacted to those things in my life. I don’t know what you will do in situations, but a little word of advice: trust the big man upstairs; he knows what’s going on.
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