Suffering-blessing or curse?
Given time I think about my blog site and how life has stolen most every moment working at a business I neither love, nor care to do, yet here I am stuck on a treadmill running way to fast. Commitment dictates I stay the course but...
I ask God why? Why, when I would rather be writing, am I cleaning out parts in a stinky machine shop breathing in toxic fumes? Why did I have to lose my financial security? Why when I wanted a perfect marriage did I receive the heartache and disappointment of infidelity? Why did I have 5 years of undiagnosed pain, only to find out that a simple surgery could have saved me that horror? Why as a child did I suffer physical and mental abuse? Why, why, why?
Does God give a stone when we ask for bread?
Does God grow silent at times we need him most?
Does God care about the details of this often sad and tortured world?
The answer to that is an emphatic yes, but...it is all in our understanding.
Why would a God who could prevent suffering allow it?
I just finished reading a book I highly recommend called Shattered Dreams by Larry Crabb. I both love and hate this book, as he tears apart these difficult questions and answers them in a less than pleasurable way. He states that having God make us feel good and give us pleasurable experiences with a pain free existence is not God's primary goal. From my life experiences I can do no less than agree with him. From looking at the life of the prophets in the Bible and the disciples, this thinking lines up with Scripture.
There is something incredibly humbling, life changing and powerful that happens in suffering if we turn toward God not against Him. An unquenchable desire for God above all other dreams or desires emerges and all other good things in life take a secondary roll. It is how God planned it should be...Him first, family second and all other pursuits there after.
In our north American Christian culture we flock in the thousands to churches that preach only a God who allows blessings and these blessings are described as the world would understand blessings...financial security, health, children doing great etc. But what happens when a child gets cancer, or a spouse cheats, or a loved one dies, or...(you place your shattered dream here)??? What then??? Is God any less God? Is He any less loving? Have you done something bad to deserve such trauma. The answer to that is an emphatic NO.
What God is doing within you when he allows suffering is neither comfortable, nor palatable to a world that seeks pleasure as its number one objective. Look at Jesus, God used death on the cross to give forgiveness, He used suffering to provide the most incredible gift of all.
I highly recommend reading Larry Crabb's book on this subject for a far better explanation than I could ever give, but this one thing I know with all my heart. Suffering has been a gift I would never have asked for, nor one I enjoyed, but a gift never-the-less. I now know with a certainty that I never had before, that no matter what life throws my way I have nothing to fear. God is with me and He is able to do exceedingly abundantly more for me than I can ask or think. Ephesians 3:20.
And so I go to work six long days a week with a different attitude...I ask God each day, I am here, now what? Give purpose to my day.
When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.
About the author
Blossom Turner is an award-winning novelist, and a free-lance writer published in Chicken Soup and Kernels of Hope anthologies, and former newspaper columnist on health and fitness. A Word Guild semi-finalist for Anna's Secret, Katherine's Arrangement, Amelia’s Heartsong, and a Word Guild winner for Best Romance for Lucinda’s Defender. She has found her home in the writing of historical fiction but is open to wherever God leads. The many 5-star reviews attest to the power of love and romance authentically woven into the Shenandoah Bride Series about five sisters and their five love stories.
Blossom lives in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband, David, of forty years and their dog Lacey named after Lacey Spring, Virginia, where this series takes place. A former businesswoman, personal trainer, and mother of two grown children she is now pursuing her lifelong dream of writing full-time. A hopeless romantic at heart, she believes all story should give the reader significant entertainment value. However, her writing embodies the struggles of real life. She infuses the reality of suffering with the hope of Christ to give a healthy dose of relatable encouragement to her reader. Her desire is to leave the reader with a yearning to live for Christ on a deeper level, or at the very least, create a hunger to seek for more.
Co-author Suzie Zanewhich
Suzie is a certified life coach, leader of emotional health, and resource specialist. She has found her niche as a soul coach.
Suzie finds purpose in empowering individuals to move towards growth, healing, and alignment with their authentic self. Suzie is driven by a calling to live authentically, as the person God created her to be, to reach her fullest potential and lead others to do the same. Her passion is to help others find meaning through discovering their strengths, gifts, personality, temperament and core values.
Suzie is a life-long learner, continuously immersing herself in new courses to learn more about human behaviour, relationships, psychology, child development, emotions, trauma and healing. Because of her craving to always learn more she has earned the title of resource specialist in the area of self-discovery.
Suzie Zanewich lives with her husband in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She has a patchwork family of four grown children, two daughters, two sons and three granddaughters.
Comments