I've shared before that this blog/ministry is about obedience to Christ...answering the call He's clearly placed on my heart...but that desire to be obedient grows stronger every day and it's all due to the "backside of suffering".
Yesterday's sermon was all about finding the joy...not necessarily right in the midst of the pain. No, not that you enjoy it -- no one does -- but that your faith reminds you that God NEVER wastes suffering and that He'll always turn it into good...not in our time, not in our way...but always in His and for His glory.
In my case it was easily 7 years or so before I could REALLY embrace the backside of my suffering...before I had even the slightest glimpse of how God had orchestrated something so amazing - FAR beyond anything I could have imagined - born out of my suffering. (Read My Story of Brokenness to learn more)
And that was only the beginning. I don't know all that God has in store for me or how He plans to continue using me, but I know that my mustard seed faith has been exposed in the last year. At this time nearly a year ago -- my entire blog was lost. My webpage went down and all the posts, all the time I had spent in prayer, pouring out my heart, trying to communicate to others that which I thought God wanted me to share...lost. It seems like such a little inconvenience as I reflect upon it now -- but at the time -- it was a huge blow. It was discouraging and frustrating, and made me question the point of trying to start over.
Right now, my care cell is studying "The Invisible War" and as we arm ourselves with the knowledge of the Devil and his schemes I can see the lies he planted in my head..."no one reads the blog", "there's plenty of other ministries and blogs for people to read", "people won't notice that you've stopped posting", "you'll never recover all the posts you lost"...slowly I let satan shift my focus to this being about me...my thoughts...my time...my posts...my ministry...
But that was never the point of any of this. It's always been about God, the opportunity to give Him ALL the glory for the things He's done in my life, or should I say the JOY I've experienced on the backside of my own suffering :)
With as much conviction as ever -- I will press on -- I will run the race set out before me -- and I will consider it all JOY the pain, the heartache, the suffering, the challenges, may it all be to His glory.
At the end of yesterday's powerful sermon I shared the song "Blessings" by Laura Story. For you who are in the midst of pain right now and need to hear this song, may it indeed be a Blessing to you. For those of you who are also on the backside of suffering, but need a reminder of how God is using and plans to use that suffering to grow you closer to Him...may it be the peace you need right now. For those of you who have heard it several times but have someone in your life that needs to hear this, may it be the encouragement you can share with them.
For a link to the lyrics of this beautiful and powerful song: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/laurastory/blessings.html
