Monthly Archives: March 2017

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Life is Beautiful

My family was at a wedding a week ago; all of my five kids, my grandchildren and me. Quite a feat. It was almost three years since we had all been together. What a joy for this mama.

Only one of my five is married and she is in the middle of it with teaching her kids and taking care of her family and two dogs. She’s a fantastic (exotic) cook, too! Her husband is a military man, and he’s the best! Then my sons. One is just out of the navy. One is in the tech field and one works as a truck driver for a trash company. All are hard workers and I’m pleased with their efforts to make their own way. My youngest is in college and works at a job in the video game field. When she and I visit a restaurant, park, or store in town, people come up to her and ask her questions. They recognize her and usually want some advice on this game or that. She seems to be noticed wherever we go. It’s quite the experience for me to see my youngest make her mark in the world.

I wish they all lived around here. Alas, they don’t.

When you think of the big picture, the time of actual child raising goes by rather quickly. We are teaching and showing by our examples. We have fun and go to church and enjoy camping and so forth. One of the curious things about child rearing is what we teach our children is not always exactly what we live. That is the challenge. To be who we should be and model self control and Christian attitudes and values. Parents who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk will hit a wall some day. But all parents hit a wall some day. It is part of the process. Parents learn a lot through their parenting. Most of us have had some upsets that came with the teen years. And we’ve had the joys like a note that says, “Thanks, Mother.”

It is a good thing to let your kids know you appreciate them.

I look at my grown children and see what virtues and attitudes are present in their lives. Like my parents before me, I had hopes and dreams, wishes and wants. Some values I purposed to teach. Those mean the most to me and I am pleased when I see them surface in my children’s lives. I find that as a parent you never stop worrying and you never quit praying. That is part of being a Christian parent. The three evils–the world, the flesh, and the devil–are ever present distractions and offer temptations. One must be spiritually vigilant. That is why I pray. My kids need support and they need godly wisdom. I desire God to be an active part in their lives. They are in the middle of a battle field, and it ain’t easy, either. Prayer is God’s business. I have seen Him act in response to my prayers on a number of occasions. God is to be praised with each victory and success.

Life is beautiful.

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3 Reasons Why Christians Suffer

None of us likes to suffer. Yet all of us suffer at one time or another. Pain is part of life. A few weeks ago a much-loved Christian woman from my hometown was involved in a vehicle roll-over and did not survive. The Christian community was stunned. She, her husband and their family were on a mission’s trip where they were going to help in an orphanage in Mexico. Their family has made many such mission trips over the years.

I was talking with an acquaintance who knew the woman in the fatal accident. She said the words we all think at times like this, “I don’t know why God allowed this to happen. We don’t know why.” She shook her head in sadness. I had written the draft for this blog post a few days before the passing of our Christian sister. Its words were fresh and I thought about them as we spoke.

Three Reasons for Pain and Suffering

God uses suffering to demonstrate His work in people’s lives:

The A.M.E. church in South Carolina did that. They chose to forgive the shooter who gunned down many of their members at the end of a prayer meeting. By their actions they demonstrated to the world that God reigns in their lives despite a despicable tragedy. I saw newscasters in awe of these humble people whose first reaction was to forgive because God forgives. They cared for the soul of even the murderer. People of God embrace the difficulty and use it to reach others. Through their actions, they show the presence of God.

John 9:1-3

God has a purpose in the suffering; He uses it to encourage others:

People don’t have to like what is happening to them, but they can accept it and re-purpose it for the good of others. The person who is suffering with a long-term situation or illness can encourage other people walking a similar difficult path. God uses their life to demonstrate His goodness and who He is. It brings glory to God when the person who is suffering finds their hope in Him and then shares that hope with others. This is seen in Christ’s own redemptive story. Christ was glorified through His suffering and death on the cross, and it brought glory to the Father. The resurrection was the fulfillment of His glorification.

2 Corinthians 1:3-6

God draws us to Himself during the suffering:

God uses tragedy and pain to help us learn to grasp onto what God gives us. He teaches us to to rest, trust, let go, and find our help in Him. We learn to do this when all else fails. The crisis–health, family, financial, spiritual–brings us to Jesus with a new openness. During these times, we come to realize that the rituals mean little until we find Jesus as enough for daily living. Then we become tender to His ways.  Through the sustaining of God, we learn to trust Him for the endurance and the outcome.

Matthew 11:28-30

These are only a few of the reasons Christians suffer. We can resent suffering and often we do in our fleshly self. Our spiritual self is quick to see that a greater dynamic is being accomplished beyond what we can see at the moment. Our one life can become living life to someone else when we choose to face the challenges through faith in God, and it gives hope and strength to them. This gives meaning to the suffering and also enables a sense of God helping through the trouble. There are times when we look back and realize God did something amazing despite all the pain.

~To God be the glory.