A Quote on Suffering...

"There are certainly things in this life that God can reveal to us only in the midst of adversity. There are hidden places deep in our souls He can reach only through our suffering." Mary Nelson

The Truths That Sustain: Truth #2...

Truth #1 was - His Amazing Love: He loves me more than I’ll ever know. In Truth #1, I talked about God’s love, that it is never-ending, all forgiving, always patient, unconditional and sacrificial.

His love is amazing, but when we add power to His love we realize that everything that happens in our lives is in His loving/powerful hands. It means that I can trust Him to do and allow only what is best for me, despite what it feels like to me.

How can anyone trust a god who is loving, but has no power to back it up? Some people would like us to believe that God is loving, but He is powerless. They believe that, because it is their way of dealing with the wrongs of the world. “Well, of course God loves us, but He doesn’t have the power to control the bad in this world. If He was powerful enough He wouldn’t let bad things happen, would He?” It’s a good question. One that I hope to answer with this and future truths.

First, let’s establish the fact that God is all-powerful or omnipotent, as the Bible tells us. More specifically, He is in control, or has power, over my life.

Truth #2 – He Is In Control: There is never a moment when He isn’t in control.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11, NIV

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16, NIV

"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Colossians 1:16-17, NIV

If He is in control, of both the big and the small, then I can let go of the tight hold I have on my life. My loving, powerful, heavenly Daddy is already at work, using the bad and the good in my life for my best.

"You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways." Psalm 139:3, NAS

“You scrutinize my path,” is more accurately, “you winnow, ventilate, or sift my path.” This verse is literally saying that everything that happens to me is sifted through His loving/powerful hands. Everything, yes everything, happens because He has allowed it or caused it to happen.

I’ll be honest, this truth both encourages me and scares me. As C. S. Lewis said, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

Thankfully, I am not expected to go through the bad times alone. I have a Helper and He gives me grace and peace to survive, but those are truths yet to come.

A Quote...

I want to share this quote with you:

"A violin-maker in the old days always chose the wood for his violins from the north side of the trees; it was the side upon which the wind and the storms had beaten. So he said when he heard the groaning of the trees in the forest at night he didn't feel sorry for them, for they were just learning to be violins." Unknown

I like thinking about how this applies to me. I see it as a picture of how God is forming me into what He wants me to be, something beautiful, something that sounds forth His glory. He is doing that through the wind and rain (hardship and pain) that He allows in my life.

I won't look at a violin the same way again. This story will stay with me and remind me of the instrument that God is forming me to be. An instrument of beauty and an instrument, that when the Master takes it up to play, will produce a lovely sound. I am waiting in His hands, waiting to be played.

The Truths That Sustain: Truth #1...

There are times when it is really hard for me to keep pushing forward, like when the pain is bad or when I’ve just lost another part of myself to the MS. At those times I have to put my mind on something else just to stay sane. Watching TV and reading help for awhile, but what I really need to do is to see my life from another prospective, from God’s prospective. There are 14 truths that I have found in the Bible that help me during trying times. Truths that keep me grounded. I want to share those truths with you, one at a time. I am hoping these truths will help you when you are discouraged or confused, hurting or mourning.

Truth #1 – His Amazing Love: He loves me more than I’ll ever know.

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7 (NIV)

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 1:3 (NIV)

God loves me. It is a sacrificial love, I know because He sent His son to die for me. It is a patient love, a love that is not demanding. His love was with me as I was formed in my mother’s womb. His love was with me before I gave my heart to Him (“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8) His love forgives. His love never ends.

Because He loves me I know that everything happens to me for a reason, whether I understand it or not. His love is a guarantee that everything happens for my good. (“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Of course His love wouldn’t mean much if He didn’t have the power to back it up. Some say God is all loving, but not all powerful. Others say He is all powerful, but not all loving. The truth is, He is both. The Bible makes that clear. My next truth will talk more about His power and control.

A Quote...

I think this goes well with my last post on pain:

"God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume…it is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever." Vance Havner

Pain has a purpose...

I was at the doctor last week Wednesday and had three different tests. My body was forced to do things that it has long forgotten how to do. You could say, that for my body being in the condition it is in, yesterday was the equivalent to someone running a marathon with no training. I was pushed to my limits.

Thursday and Friday I was feeling the effects and it hurt to just breathe. I could hardly hold my head up or stay awake.

Sometimes I’d like to ask God, “Does this really serve a purpose?” “Does it really have to be so hard?”

Those are good questions and the answers are yes. I’m not really willing to admit it when the pain is so bad I can’t think straight, but yes, it does serve a purpose and, yes, sometimes it is going to be that hard.

So, what possible reason does God have for allowing this pain in my life?

Pain makes me humble. Pain makes me more sympathetic to other people’s pain. Pain makes me yearn for heaven. In pain I can find fellowship with Christ and I can better understand His pain and the price He paid for my salvation.

Pain is healing me. It is healing me of pettiness and pride. It is healing me of self-reliance and reliance on earthly goods. It is healing me of perfectionism and empty pursuits. It is teaching me to find everything I need in Him. Through pain I am drawn closer to Him, because I need Him more in my pain.

God is using me, in the midst of my pain, to draw people to Him and to glorify Him. It’s easy to praise Him in the good times, but what really makes people take notice of Him… is when people see us praising Him in the midst of the bad times.

These heroes of faith really say it best, so I will let them speak as I close today’s blog.

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." C. S. Lewis

“All who in this world render true service to God or man receive a preparatory training in the school of sorrow.” Ellen White, Education

“No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God's will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.” Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

On Disability...

I realized something this week. Everyone has a disability. Wait, really?

Wikipedia says, “A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these. Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions.”

I would say, that the loose definition of disability is brokenness.

If we have a Christian worldview, we believe this world is broken and that we as people are broken. If that really is true then it makes sense that everyone has disabilities, or, places where they are broken.

Mike Warnke once had someone tell him that Christianity was a crutch. Mike told the guy that when you’re crippled you need a crutch. Mike knew that as humans we are crippled. We are crippled because we live in broken bodies in a broken world.

So, the church is really disabled people who have found their strength and support in Jesus Christ. The difference between the unsaved and us is that we have seen our need and found a savior and they haven’t. That’s all really.

People are disabled by many things: broken bodies, broken marriages, broken childhoods, broken dreams, broken relationships, broken homes, broken expectations, broken spirits, etc.

Some of our brokenness Jesus heals in this life, but healing for some of the brokenness will have to wait for heaven. Some of our brokenness will leave scares in this life, scares seen and unseen.

Most people can hide their disability, but I can’t, the wheelchair is kind of a giveaway, but don’t think that I’m the only one with a disability. As humans living in a broken world we all have disabilities, we are broken people, and only in Christ can we find the crutch to help us move forward in this world and to find a new world, after this one, where we will find the ultimate healing.