II Corinthians 12:9
And He (God) said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."
What do you do when life rips the cover off of your "Christianity" and shows you the reality of pain and sorrow? What do you do when there aren't any answers to wrong that has come to you? Where do you turn when it feels like someone has punched you in the gut and you're just sick to your stomach?
Such is life.....
Life happens.....
It rains on the just and the unjust....
The sun shines down on the righteous and the unrighteous....
I'm not trying to list platitudes that we've all heard before, but the truth is as long as we live on this side of heaven, we are all going to deal with situations that seemingly have no fairness to them.
SO what do we do?
When these hard times come to us, we need to realize that the real "US" comes out. What we truly believe about God and life will come together and reveal itself to our hearts. If we have played at church and pretended to be a Christian, that will be uncovered for what it is. Not always pleasant to go through such, but necessary for us to grow. By the way, we either grow in Him, or we shrivel up and die spiritually.
James 1:2-3 (The Message Bible)
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when test and challenges come at you from all sides You know that under pressure, your faith life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.
I don't believe that for one instant God directs pain and suffering to us. I do believe that He understands that it is a part of life, and when it does come to us, He wants us to turn to Him. Not necessarily for answers to the "Why", but for comfort and growing in our faith to trust Him.
The one other thing I have to remind myself of, is that when I do go through these dark times, no matter how painful they are, not matter how crushing the situation, God always.......hear this.....God always covers it with His mercy to keep it from being as terrible as it could be. I know it may not seem like it, but trust me on this one. I know.
I want to close today's posting with a video from John Piper.
The subject may seem a bit odd since I wrote about suffering and the presence of God, but at the end of the video, John talks about the sufficiency of Christ. This is where I want to plant my flag. On the truth that no matter what life hands me, He is all sufficient to see me through...........even to the other side of eternity. If you remember anything today....plant your hope...plant your faith....plant your very life on the truth that no matter what you may be facing ....with Christ, He will see you through.
I love you all and I appreciate each and every one of you.
God on you...
mb
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