Accept Suffering: God makes me suffer,why?
Accept suffering, don't fight it!
We have the opportunity, every time God gives us a cross to bear to triumph. What does that mean? It means, that if we say to God, "What can I do for you," rather than "What do I have to do." It means we say, "I offer up my pain Lord for the greater good of others, for "so and so's conversion" and I am okay with it," rather than complaining, we at some point during the suffering know and realize it's going to be okay and why not submit to Christ/God's will.
Are you mystified?
I'll try to explain further.
We say God allows crosses in our lives to enlighten us. For without them, we would not need to or would not likely seek God's help or God at all. Crosses bring us closer to God and teach us lessons in patience, love, and peace.
God calls us to recognize we are weak humans and we are nothing in comparison to Him. But out of His great mercy and love for us, His creatures, He makes us "his friends." We become his loved ones and friends by choosing to accept Him in our lives and love Him in return.
Suffering lasts only so long
Everything we bear, in life, passes.
I was sick to my stomach, I had a horrible headache and now I finally threw up and I feel much better. I'm filled with love of God and my Mom for being there for me. I'm grateful. I pray for my loved ones or those who I particularly want saved. Why? Because.
A preacher last Sunday told many things. How he and his future wife at the time, were going to the same church and how he lacked skills in spiritual things. She prayed for him and over time he improved. It wasn't her that did the changing, it was God. But through her prayer, her allowing God to work through her, this man improved. God uses Christians as vessels, as devices. We are told this in the Bible. When we are saved, and accept Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior, many things happen:
- We fall in love with God (over time)
- We want to be good, naturally
- We desire to share our love with others
The joy we receive is so great, and knows no bounds. We know we are going to Heaven when we die. We have received the Holy Spirit and He guides us. We lean not on our own understanding. At times we ignore the Holy Spirit, this is called backsliding, we slide backwards from grace for days, weeks, months, even years. This happens as we are human. But if we feed that grace, that Holy Spirit within us, anything is possible.
My pastor talked about how, in relationships, as with his wife, they married. Anything can happen when you give yourself up to God's will--someone you pray for can be turned around and you may marry them, or you may meet someone new just right for you. God works in mysterious ways. There's hope for all relationships of every kind. Prayer is the key. Pray for others, (even offer up your pain as a small sacrifice) and see what happens. My father at age 82 finally accepted Christ through my sister's assistance, or guidance. This time he was very willing and even asked her to write down the sinner's prayer for him. It's amazing, isn't it?
Hardened sinners can repent at any time, it's up to us to accept Christ or not, but first we have to be informed and that can happen at any time in our lives (then we decide to serve or not to serve.)
Many people have said to me, "I'd rather be a ruler in hell than a servant." Or they say, "If God makes me suffer this, I don't want a God like that."
What do I say in response? I say, "First off, you can't be a ruler in hell." Second, if you only understood WHY God allows you to suffer, "Would you call on God if you were rich and heatlhy? I doubt it." And they say, "Why does God punish (allow to suffer) good people? My answer, "To remind them....." We as humans, and you know this, easily FORGET. For example, we forget our parents love us unless they tell us or show it, we forget we cannot commit crimes in school or in the world without consequences. We forget.
So, this wraps up why I almost delight sometimes in suffering, the opportunities that come sometimes. No, it's NOT fun. No way. But to have the opportunity, to combine prayer and suffering to influence God, to draw his attention to my prayers and wishes of good towards others....How can we not wish well to others? And it is God's grace not ours, but He does hear prayer.
