...quietly submit to the trials and tribulations.. :O

Remember He is the artist and you are only the picture. You can't see it. So quietly submit to be painted. 

C.S. Lewis

another Sunday, another opportunity to worship with the family God has placed us in .. another sermon about suffering, I think this was the last one in the series "Why me?" 

timely to hear about what we need to focus on if we want to be able to see God in our trials..

as Christians, children of God I heard a wise man say one day that we are either in, have just come out, or will enter into a time of trial and suffering.. it's because He, our Father in Heaven is committed to making us holy, more like Him, and He will not stop until He takes us home one day..

this man, James McDonald, went on to say that if you were not experiencing any trial for a long time you might want to test yourself and see if you are really one of His children..

so, sermons about suffering are always timely.. learning to not try to run from it but embrace it, knowing that He who allowed it has only our best interest in mind, will never hurt us or harm us, learning to look to Him, not become angry, bitter, full of doubt, turn away or try to control the situation.. that's always a very good thing..  God the Father always is all about accomplishing His purposes for us, He wants to teach us to trust Him, let us receive His comfort so we can comfort others, take our eyes of ourselves and minister to others instead, He sometimes just plain will use our suffering to show His power and glory.. not fighting this but accepting and surrendering is what we need to do..

last sermon of the series focused on how we can make sure we are able to see God in our suffering ...

there were steps like confessing sin immediately,  surrendering completely ( wow, being content in our suffering and accepting it fully) loved the next one: thinking biblically.. filtering our thoughts through the verse in Philippians 4.. whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.... standing firm on what we know is true.. no matter how things around us look or feel, endure patiently and, last but not least: struggle corporately...

ha...

having had the immense privilege of being a part of a place where this was happening at all times, I guess I had not realized how hard life would be if this part was not working...

if there was no one near to come walk alongside you, to encourage and uphold you through prayer, through pointing to scriptures and just to love and to care ..

I was aware that this is what has carried me through all the many years of being a follower of Christ and His refining work in my life.. have enjoyed the privilege of walking alongside other believers, sister and brothers in Christ and those the Lord has allowed me to share my faith with through the Pregnancy Center..

so today, as I wrote down the last point, I thanked Him, that this indeed has been my experience for so long , also realizing that having kind of lost this family and not quite connected in this way with the new one has had me in this rather difficult stage over the last little while..

so thankful that today I got to talk to a few more people at the church and new things will start up soon.. 

knowing and believing firmly that God is in TOTAL control of ALL my circumstances at ALL times, I know He wanted this like this.. I can see why as well, or at least a little bit anyways..

growing together as husband and wife without this kind of network of caring brothers and sisters had us look to each other only in those times of need ..  and so we failed, we succeeded, we cried and we met each other on levels far deeper than ever before.. what a blessing.. hard at times but oh so good.. the Lord turning the difficult into something very good for both of us, because we love Him, because we have been called according to His amazing purpose..

is it going to be a struggle to always be patient, surrendered and focusing on Him and being content in all the ongoing struggles and future trials? oh for sure... but.. I know that He, the Daddy in Heaven has our backs and His plans are perfect.

I know His intentions and I am thankful that He will not give up making us more holy each day..

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;  for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.

1 Peter 1: 15-16