My Struggles are About Him
What about your struggles? Is there any chance, any possibility, that you have been selected to struggle for God’s glory? Have you “been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29)?
Here is a clue. Do your prayers seem to be unanswered? What you request and what you receive aren’t matching up? Don’t think God is not listening. Indeed he is. He may have higher plans.
Here is another. Are people strengthened by your struggles? A friend of mine can answer yes. His cancer was consuming more than his body; it was eating away at his faith. Unanswered petitions perplexed him. Well-meaning Christians confused him. “If you have faith,” they said, “you will be healed.”
No healing came. Just more chemo, nausea, and questions. He assumed the fault was a small faith. I suggested another answer. “It’s not about you,” I told him. “Your hospital room is a showcase for your Maker. Your faith in the face of suffering cranks up the volume of God’s song.”
Oh, that you could have seen the relief on his face. To know that he hadn’t failed God and God hadn’t failed him—this made all the difference. Seeing his sickness in the scope of God’s sovereign plan gave his condition a sense of dignity. He accepted his cancer as an assignment from heaven: a missionary to the cancer ward.
A week later I saw him again. “I reflected God,” he said, smiling through a thin face, “to the nurse, the doctors, my friends. Who knows who needed to see God, but I did my best to make him seen.”
Bingo. His cancer paraded the power of Jesus down the Main Street of his world.
God will use whatever he wants to display his glory. Heavens and stars. History and nations. People and problems.
Rather than begrudge your problem, explore it. Ponder it. And most of all, use it. Use it to the glory of God.
Through your problems and mine, may God be seen.
by Max Lucado
This is so powerful. I never sensed it from your perspective. Afterall, it really is about Him.
A young woman who suffered with terminal cancer asked her friends NOT to pray that she would not suffer, because when she suffered the worst, she felt closest to God.
Praying for someone who is ill may not always result in healing. It surely does provide an opportunity for deepening trust and strengthening faith of the ones who pray. In praying for others, we are unexpectedly blessed.
suffering allows me to sing to Him until it is no longer important to have my way; rather know His way. I believe His way is best no matter what. If I cry , I am still loved; If I sing it is because I have His heart. If I am lonely I am with Him always.
I am going through a similar struggle. God help me to reflect you.
It is amazing how God works,
I am on the 7th day of “The purpose driven life” by Rick Warren {40 day devotional}
And reading this is confirmation of I’ve read previously.
We ultimately live to reflect Gods glory. Everything has been made for His glory.
All have fallen short of the glory of God. We become more like him, that we may fully reflect his glory.
“Everything in creation gives glory to God, except fallen angels, and human beings.”
There is a struggle tho.
“My spirit cannot contend {struggle} with man forever, His days will be 120 years.”
Unless we become more like Him, We are doomed.
119, 000 people lost their jobs in Durban, South Africa this week. They are raiding supermarkets in great numbers, so that they can eat.
I feel Gods’ protection over my entire family.
There is such a vast separation between the two working in the field together.
One taken, One left behind.
Chose Christ today.
This makes me feel that I will someday have a story to tell…but not yet…the story is still being told…good message=)