Last Sunday at our church we heard a lady share her testimony of how for the first time she is pain free. A mom with young children, she found herself in extreme chronic pain. Living elsewhere she shared an amazing array of God ordained events which brought her to Minnesota and to our church where she and her family felt immediate peace. From here she was lead to the Internationally known Mayo Clinic where she learned was known to be the center of chronic pain research. Our hearts and minds had found a deeper connection with God through this woman's testimony, but why?
Our God is an awesome God who absolutely knows what he is doing with our lives. He uses our suffering to make us realize that we need him, to make us better people because then he wants to use our suffering for good to encourage others who come after us in our own suffering.
America is a nation of suffering. We are a nation of cast offs from England. A people that wanted to have a better life in this new world. Our ancestors, like the Hebrew slaves, had to endure sickness, hardship, and death before reaching our shores. As England tried to prevent us from starting this great nation our ancestors fought and many died on the battle fields because they believed that their suffering would ensure that tomorrow's children would have a better life. Our freedom came at a price and one we must never forget.
Which is why we enjoy listening to our grand parents talk about the hardships they had to endure and how those hardships paid off with a better life for us. Which is why we remember our Veteran's and the sacrifices they made so we could continue to experience freedom.
As each ethnic group makes it's way to our shores they too have a tale of suffering which they endured before reaching the better life in America. Many of them had to endure sickness, torture, and loss of life before their ancestors found a way to experience freedom and a new life in America. Many of them came to America where they could worship without fear of reprisal, without fear of being taken in the middle of the night and never seen again. Many of them came to America not knowing what happened to their long missing family members. They came to America so their children could have a better life.
We are inspired by tales of suffering because in that suffering we see the tapestry of God working behind the scenes of that suffering. No matter what you might be experiencing today whether it is struggling with a rare disease, a recently diagnosed cancer, or wayward children, or God forbid a loss of a child you must never forget that God is there with you every step of the way and he is going to use your suffering to lead people to the Savior. Just like we were inspired to draw closer to our Lord listening to this woman on Sunday others will be inspired to draw closer to God listening as you share your own suffering with them.
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