GRATITUDE FOR SUFFERING?

 Lately, I seem to be thinking about suffering a great deal.   I never intended to write about this, but several things have drawn me to the conclusion that perhaps I should address it ~even though I have not finished mulling it around.  (Our minds are like shifting sands-----subject to change )

The first occurrence of pondering suffering was my flippant remark last week about the fear of dying.  NO, I am not afraid of dying, but I do fear it may involve suffering.  In almost every case I have been directly involved in with someone taking their leave of this terrestrial ball, it involved suffering.  As I watched my mother suffer, I began to ask God to end her suffering.   In her final moments, the nurse asked me was I prepared, and my quick answer was "No!"  I was ready for her suffering to end after months of watching it, but I needed a few more conversations with her.

The second occurrence was an interview I saw recently with a pastor's wife who was in her late eighties.  She had lost two of her three children ---one took his own life and the other died from cancer in her fifty's.  She told the interviewer that faith had always played an important part in her life from her earliest memories.  She admitted she no longer believed in a God who would allow tragedies such as those she had endured.  Her husband who was in his early ninety's still held on to his faith, but did not pressure or argue with her over her seeming rejection of God.   I cannot judge--but it deeply saddened me to hear the pain in her words knowing how God had sustained me in my deepest griefs.

The third was today's devotional on gratitude.  The author said~

"Suffering is unbearable if you aren't certain that God is for you and with you...suffering is actually at the heart of the Christian story.  Pain is a teacher, if we let her in.  And like all good teachers, we often hunt them down, many years later, and say: Thank you.  You pushed, your prodded, you poked...and now look at me.  Because of you, I am who I am.  Beauty can come out of the ashes."

"That unless a seed dies, it cannot bear fruit.

That Sunday came after that treacherous Friday.

And that after winter is spring. Every. Single. Amazing. Time."

If this does not cause you to think I am not certain what it will take.  We recognize that one of God's attributes is Goodness.  God also never changes.  If He is good in our blessings, He is also good in our suffering.  In fact, I have felt Him the closest in my deepest pain. 

The devotion author proclaimed~

"God is with us in our struggles.

'And behold, I am with you always' Matthew 28:20

God is for us when it seems all else is against us

'If God is for us, who can be against us?' Romans 8:31

God can carry us through our pain.

'When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior'

Isaiah 43:2-3"

I am thankful for all the times I have suffered--that have shown me the faithfulness of a Holy God, who always has my best interest at heart.  The road to sanctification is filled with joy and suffering--all leading to the One Who called us by name.