Category Archives: Christian Life

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The Way of the Cross in Me

Random Journal Quotes

Journal 11 – 2015

There are missions we are given to do by God that are not neat and tidy. My views are not neat and tidy. Today I was reading a blog by a former fundamentalist. She was writing about misunderstanding race. An African-American joined in. His anger was apparent but not rude. He said those on the other side will never understand the marginalized because they have not lived it. It made me think of my professor and his comment that the playing field will never be even. There is a thread to this conversation that I am starting to understand. Prejudice is taught by example. Equality is lived by example. I feel contemporary Christianity has failed and failed miserably.We are not like Christ (broadly speaking, not everyone). We play it close to the vest, make our own choices, choose our own path, and live for self—a pious, self-righteous, careful path. What if we were to live it differently—really love our neighbor as oneself, really not count the cost, really and truly live for Jesus Christ without restraint? Our homes would become hospitals for wounded people, and we would become changed. Amen.

Journal 11 – 2016

It is good to feel God coming close. I am refreshed in spirit. There is a difference about me. The burden has lifted. Praise is here (at the monastery). I took pictures for a young couple by the grape arbor. She has a nasty scar on her face. She is pretty and looked lovely.  And she is kind, I can tell. Her man seemed discourteous to her, ignoring, and then bossing her. How I dislike that kind of thing.

Thank you for this place of peace. Thank you for answering my prayer and bringing peace—sweet, true, deep peace. That was a God-thing. Father, I have become a ‘big tent’ Christian. I no longer like labels. Thank you, Father God, for every step that you give me, every truth that I discover, every joy and every sorrow. I am so grateful. You take broken people and restore them. You lift our cares. You minister to us. You set us free to live again. You bring healing where there was none. You are my rock, my fortress. I’m so thankful.

We trust in the Lord, our God. In God we trust.

Journal 11 – 2017

God often calls us to leave what is “safe,” to let go of our prejudices, our biases, limited parameters, and well-defined boxes. God calls us to love. We don’t get to choose, He chooses for us. There are lines we must cross out of obedience to His teachings and message. My walk is not your walk. How can I tell you what God would have you to do? I can’t. That is His business. We can be blind—so blind—to the work of God. We cannot choose whom we are going to love. We love those whom God brings to us, whom He puts in our path, whom He directs us to seek out. There is wisdom in this. We are kept from planning our own destiny, by leaving our destiny up to God. How shallow our thinking is at times. But God is never shallow. He is wisdom personified. In Him is abundant wisdom. Trust is well-placed when it rests in Him. We need to leave what is safe, to step into the unscripted way of the cross—the road less traveled. Our friends and family may not understand, but that is not our concern. They don’t have to. Instead we must have the courage to step out into the center of God’s great big will for us, even if it causes consternation and pain to those who do not understand the way of the cross in us. Safe? Forsaking all, we follow Christ. God calls us to unconditional love. We tend to put conditions on whom we are going to love.

Norma L. Brumbaugh

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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.