Friday SHINE....
Today's Reading:
Good morning, girls. It’s Rebekah. : ) Happy FUN FRIDAY to you!
Jill and I talked about a post on suffering to finish out our
Beatitudes this week. Whoa. That's not so fun, is it? Well, stick with me for a second...
“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4.
Suffering has been a part of my life for the past few years.
Suffering finds me…. and I find myself suffering along with those I love and some that I barely know- to be honest. My
heart just goes out to them and I have “entered in” to their suffering, mostly
with a broken heart.
Cancer, divorce, death, abuse, addiction, mental illness, court battles, job loss, bankruptcy, loss of a child, miscarriage, tragedy of any kind.
Suffering is ugly, it hurts, and it creates a kind of “hope
hole.” Or, it can. Right? Suffering can start a series of “Why God, Why?”
questions. These questions can cause us to question our faith.
Suffering is coming. No one escapes suffering, not even
Christ.
The only way through the suffering is with Jesus.
Christ is keenly aware of our suffering. He is watching us
and looking for his chance to bear our pain. Meanwhile, we are stuck in the
middle of our suffering mess.
“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears
in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Psalms 56:8
Last fall, after a long season of lots of bad, gut wrenching, life changing news and
discouraging days that were marked by my own suffering and pain; something
happened. I blurted out to my small group through a wall of tears, “I know that suffering
will come, but I cannot stand the pain. It hurts too much. I need the Lord to
take the pain away.” At that moment- I heard my own words.
Something happened. The second part of Matthew 5:4 came true...COMFORT.
I started praying, with a very broken spirit, “Lord, please
take this pain away.”
You know what? Relief came almost instantly. It really did. I could pray and talk to God about these problems,
but I was relieved of the tremendous pain. I have started to pray this same prayer for my friends. I am beginning to see it's fruits.
I think that lingering pain can begin
to feel normal, but we don’t have to bear that weight. The Lord already took
care of our burden. Also, I've found that tremendous, ongoing pain can cause a faith
crisis.
We can let go of that pain. Keeping it close is dangerous. Pulling
Jesus into our suffering is our way out.
Now listen, we tell ourselves that we have the right to
grieve and we have the right to be angry and we have the right to be down in
our pain. I am beginning to realize that this is a trap. A grief trap. There is a season to grieve, yes, but there is also a season to let go of grieving.
Ok, so it’s fun Friday and mourning, grief and suffering isn’t "fun." But wait… Pulling the rip cord on all that pain could be very good for us
and good for our relationship with Christ. Losing 50 pounds of suffering and grief is fun in my book!!!
Fun Friday CHALLENGE:
Ask the Lord to take
your pain away…
Release yourself from the pain of suffering so that you can
find the hope that lies within the midst of the challenge you face.
Jettison
that pain, girls. Ask the Lord to take it away and allow yourself to be comforted. I pray He does, in Jesus’ name. Amen
“It
will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her
anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again;
then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything.
I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your
request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive,
and you will have abundant joy.”
John
16:21-24
Love,
Rebekah
