As I sat quietly with the Lord this morning, I was having a little heart to heart with Him about suffering. I thought back on my own depths of suffering, as my mind turned to the variety of painful experiences that so many of the precious people I love and care for are going through, even now. I began thinking about the way we dread suffering...you know, that underlying fear that "the other shoe is about to drop" or the "what if's" that we all run through in our minds, as if thinking of them first could prevent them from actually happening. In reality, the only thing that our worries are sure to produce is an increase in our anxiety levels!
And then I heard it...the steady tapping of the rain outside my window and with it, a realization that God was telling me something with each drop that fell.
Perhaps we need to see suffering like rain...
~As much as we may not like it, the harder it comes down, the more it transforms the landscape...eroding the superficial and revealing what really lies beneath the surface.
~It purifies, cleansing and washing away the dirt and grime that have accumulated.
~Not only does it reveal and cleanse, but it quenches dry ground and brings forth new life. The rain is a necessary element to provide and sustain growth.
He really does use ALL things...
as He grows us to become more like Christ,
bringing Him glory as we are transformed.
(Romans 8:28-29)
Perhaps it is no coincidence, that as I finish writing this post...the sun is appearing from behind the clouds...hope bursting forth anew.
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