Suffering

"When suffering shatters the carefully kept vase that is our lives, God stoops to pick up the pieces. But he doesn't put them back together as a restoration project patterned after our former selves. Instead, he sifts through the rubble and selects some of the shards as raw material for another project--a mosaic that tells the story of redemption." --Ken Gire

What to do When You Don't Know What to Say

Have you ever had a friend or family member go through a hard time in life? I mean, something life changing. I've often found mysef in this sittuation. In times like these it's hard to know what to say. I so baddly want to encourage them and help uplift their spirit, but what do I say? I don't know the pain they're going through and I don't know how this is going to effecting their life forever. How can I really offer encouragement in such a circumstance?

So I went to the book of Job. Everyone knows that Job went through more and lost more then we could ever imagine. But God turned my attention to his friends istead of the one who was suffering. Now truly, his friends were great indeed just for the fact that they sat and mouned with him for seven days. How many of us would do that for our friends? I believe that Job's friends really wanted to help him. They were probably very close to him and hated to see their friend so discouraged and depressed. But their encouragement and advise was full of falsehood. Even Job's counsel was wrong because God said to Job, "Whis is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?"

Now we all know that each sittuation of suffering is different, but we can all learn something from this story. What I learned was that sometimes it is better to say nothing than to speak void words. I don't want to be like Job's friends and cause them more pain by my untimely words. If God wants us to say something He will give us the words to say and make them very clear. But there are times when the best thing we can do is just love our friends and family and let them know we are there for them.

"Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few." Ecclesiastes 5:2

Evening Thoughts

When my heart is so full with questions, doubts, and fears, it is so nice to be able to pour it all out to God! Today I visited a friend's blog, trying to get my mind off of all the unwanted thoughts that keep coming back. When I heard her music start softly my soul was refreshed. "I hear the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and it's closer now then it's ever been. I can almost hear the trumpet as Gabriel sounds the chord. At the midnight cry, we'll be going home!"

My two thoughts tonight are these:

• I don't know what I would do without a God to cast all my cares upon.
• Sometimes it takes heavenly thoughts to get your mind off of earthly struggles.

The Positive Column

This week I have been a little discouraged. During times like this the devil is very quick to point out all the negative things in my life so that I will believe I have every reason to be down and out. And honestly, in the day that we're living in the devil doesn't have too work to hard to find negative facts to throw in our face. If we listen to him, we will always be discouraged because we are living in a very wicked world.


Today on the way to work God brought back to my memory something my parent's Sunday School teacher use to say all the time. He would say, "How has y'alls week been? Have you put all the negative things in your life in the positive column?" Then he would go on to tell about every day things in his life that had gone wrong and how he learned to see the positive side of it.



So what about you? What are you going to do with the items in your negative column? I'm going to try to put them in the positive column.

Picture:: Have you ever noticed that the cross is a big positive sign?

Lesson From a Bad Week

This Friday through Sunday our church had a youth revival for everyone in the community. Ever since I heard about it months ago I have eagerly waited for the days to arrive. I have looked forward to this revival more then any other revival I have been to in a long time because the last meeting (with the same preacher) was such a blessing and this time I would get to hear his son (a young man who I grew up with) preach out of the word of God.

But I don't think the devil wanted us to have revival. In fact I know for sure that he was against the whole thing! All week I have been struggling to keep my mind on God and everything seemed to be going against me. One day I was in a really bad mood, the next night I couldn't' sleep, then my back started hurting. . . I'm not trying to start a pity party for myself, I'm just making a point. The devil was fighting all week!

By Thursday (the day before revival started) I knew I needed to get through to God and let Him refresh my heart. So I went to the book of Job to see what he did when everything seemed to be going against him. Let me remind you what he went through just in the first chapter of Job. All his oxen were taken my the Sabeans, his sheep were killed by fire from heaven, (there goes everything that made him money and provided his living) the Chaldeans carried away his camels, (no more transportation) most or all of his servants were killed, and worst of all his children died. What did Job do? Did he curse God? Did he ask God "Where are you?" Did he give up on serving God? What did Job do?

"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped. And said, Naked came I our of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1. 20-21

So there I sat, feeling like everything was going wrong but still realizing that my troubles were nothing compared to Job. What did I do? I worshipped. And you know what? Everything was okay after that! Blessed be the name of the LORD!

Sorrow is Better Than Laughter

No one likes to go through hard times and heart ache. Some times I wish life could always be happy with no rough spots, but I'm not expecting that to happen until I go home to Heaven.

Another hard time has come to a family around us and those who care for them. I cannot imagine what it would be like to loose a little baby only 3 weeks old, and I don't ever want to experience it. Our pastor has been very compassionate and helpful during this time, not only to the family but to his church. Tonight he read several scriptures concerning sorrow and how we should take it. It all made so much sense yet I had never thought of it that way before.

"A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the
house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth." ~Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

"Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness." ~James 4:9

"He [Jesus] is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." ~Isaiah 53:3

It is not a bad thing to grieve. We are commanded to weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. But like I told the heartbroken mother tonight, we need to be thankful that we have God to help us bear our burdens. I can't imagine bearing them alone!

Going Through the Storm with Jesus

I don't know what it's like to come out of an awful life changing storm victoriously singing praising to God, but it must be the most wonderful feeling on earth.

As Thorns to a Child

Can you remember how you felt about pain when you were really little? Didn't it seem like such an awful thing? Of course pain still hurts, but small children seem to hate it worse than the more experienced people.

I was reminded of this one evening by my little sister. I was watching Amy play in the yard by herself while Bethany and Phillip played on the swings a little distance away. Since she was playing bare footed on grass that was not free of sticks and stumps, she soon got into some thorns that pricked her little feet. After calling several times, Bethany came to help her out of the situation. Once Bethany got over there she was going to pull the thorns out but to Amy this was not the solution. All she could think about was right then, and right then it would hurt to pull the thorns out. Bethany asked, "So what do you want me to do?" Amy replied, "I don't know!" Eventually, after I explained to her that once she pulled then out it wouldn't hurt any more, Amy let her do it. Just like I had told her, she only felt the pain for a few seconds.

Sometimes in the Christian life I feel just like Amy did. When I find myself in an unpleasant situation I cry out for God's help expecting Him to take care of things the easy way. When he provides a way out I cry, "Not that way Lord! Do something else!" Then, when I search my heart, I realize that I don't know what I want God to do . . . but I want Him to do something. Just like Amy, I can't see how this will affect me in the long run. All I know is that I don't want that the way it looks now. But God knows what the end will be and He knows that I will be happier if I let Him do things His way.

So what do I do? In times like these, the best thing to do is follow what our Lord said and, "Be still, and know that I am God." Often times it is when we stand still that God will help us get the thorns out of our feet.

Then I think again about what Amy was so afraid of: the pain of a little thorn. It was so simple, she really had nothing to be afraid of. Do I have anything to be afraid of? In five or ten years, will this hard time I'm going through seem as big as it does now? When I start my everlasting life in Heaven, will I even remember this as being trying? If I had been there when Jesus Christ was brutily crusifed on the cross, would I complain of this little trail? I belive I would look at it all and realize that my pain is as little as thorns are to a child. Truly they are.

Trials

Hard times will either make you or break you. It is up to you to decide how your life will be shaped.

Dark Tunnels

"It's like going through a dark tunnel and you think your all alone. But Someones always there for you that guides you all they way. He is the king of kings and he will protect you. You might go through hard spots in life, but He will never leave. You may stray, but he will never forget you. You might try to blot him out, but he reminds you He's there. So don't get discouraged when you go through a dark and lonely spot in life. Just look to Jesus and He will guide you through."

The first few words of this encouraging composition really stuck out to me. They declared the feelings that I was going through at the time. They could not have come at a better moment.

Sometimes life is like going through a tunnel. It's dark. It's lonely. It's scary. You feel like there is no end in sight. It's not fun, but there is always a lesson at the end.

Darkness. We know that God is the light of this world. Without Him, life is . . . dark! Darkness is scary because we can't see what is going on. We stumble around, not seeing the obstacles that lay waiting for us. But there is a light for those who are Christians and anyone who wants to become a Christian. This light will guide us through life and shed light on areas that we don't understand. This light will make the journey easier . . . if we choose to apply it. If we ignore God (whether intentionally or not) this light may not be of very good use to us. Sometimes when we go through trials it is because we don't want God's help in certain areas, but want to do it on our own. If we would of asked for God's help from the beginning things might of been a little easier. Of course we do not have trials only when we are pushing our Savior aside. Sometimes God chooses to put his children through hard times to strengthen us.

No end in sight. When going through a hard time or trial, it can seem like an eternity. Like some dark tunnels, you can't see the end until you are right up to it. God is always there, and with His guidance, you can have peace. You may not know what is going to happen at the end of the tunnel, but you will know that everything will be alright.

If you are going through a tunnel in life, just remember, "You may go through hard spots in life, but He will never leave . . . so don't get discouraged when you go through a dark and lonely spot in life. Just look to Jesus and He will guide you through."

~The composition at the beginning of the post was written by my sister Bethany. She tried to give it to me for over a week, but I never found it amongst the clutter on my desk. When I did find it, it was such a blessing to me. If I had read it a day earlier I wouldn't of seen the great message that God had for me through this writing. Ironically, Bethany had no idea that I was going through a "dark tunnel." God knew just what I need!