How do we allow suffering to do a holy work in us and not let it make us hard and angry? First we need to be honest about what we have done with our suffering. What have we allowed it to do to our hearts. Has resentment and anger toward God or others set in? Let us quickly bring that to Jesus and ask him to remove anger and bitterness from our heart and soul. Jesus, heal my broken heart, release me from all darkness. Comfort me in my suffering. Cleanse me from all that has gotten in or taken root in the places of my sorrow. Comfort me. Give me a crown of beauty instead of ashes. Make me beautiful here, Lord, in this. Give me the oil of gladness instead of mourning. Lift my grief and sorrow and give me the oil of your gladness. Give me a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Rescue me. Nothing undoes the harmful effort of suffering as our choices to begin to love and worship Jesus in the midst of it. By loving Jesus in our pain, we allow him into our pain. We open up the window in the spiritual realm for the presence of God to fill our lives, or thoughts, our understanding and our perspective. We come to a place of gladness for the story of our lives, both for the joyful times and the excruciating seasons. The golden moments that we cherish forever and the awful moments we can’t seem to forget. We are on our way to the place of being able to exalt God over all of it. Thankfulness enables us to communicate with him in an intimate way. A thankful mindset does not entail a denial of reality with its plethora of problems. Instead it rejoices in him, our savior, in the midst of trials and tribulations. He is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in times of trouble. The story of my life and the struggles I live with have helped to shape me into the woman I am today and the woman I am becoming. My scars, my failures, my struggles, my joys. My private lonely agonies have been forging my soul into something beautiful. Eternal, good. Yours have too. We can choose to let suffering soften us or harden us. We can choose to allow it to make us more compassionate or let our hearts become bitter. We can choose whether we will love Jesus in it or resent him for it. The pain we experience, the sorrow, the agony, God is working all things together for our good. He is etching a masterpiece. The crowning glory will be that because of the pain we have endured, we have come to know Jesus in a way that we will treasure our relationship with him. God’s gift to us is there, waiting for us to call out to him. Lean close. He is waiting for you.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 15:57:26 +0000