Through personal trials one thing I am sure of that God is
with me all the way. Read Isaiah 43:2 for an understanding:
When you pass through the waters, I
will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
We tend to think God is not with us when the going gets
rough or down right unbearable. Honestly, the chronic sufferers and those who
live in constant pain, it’s difficult to have them understand this concept.
Again we go back to the question is God is so loving why does he allow
believers to suffer? And the answer returns to two basic things free will and
building character.
One is the ole “shit happens” where life just seems to
overwhelm a person and situations seem to suck. My case in point is my friend
whose son was paralyzed. That was just an accident turned bad, but at the same
time it built up the family and brought the community of believers around them
to help. While this may have seemed negative, it ended up positive. Sure it
still sucks to be confined to a wheelchair, but to show God’s peace through
something that sucks makes my little issues seem minor in comparison.
As for building character, that is something that is harder
to understand. How can one understand a future plan for them when they are
suffering so? How can someone endure so much with a “hope” of it being used for
the glory of the kingdom when it seems never ending?
This has been a reoccurring theme with my exploring
suffering. I find hope in the Bible and then turn this to my two chronic
sufferers and it doesn’t help them or give them peace. Instead it’s like
rubbing salt in a wound.
So I continue the quest for an answer that’s not a cliché for
the chronic sufferer.
I do no having suffered through many pits and valleys that
through it all God is with you even if you think He has abandoned you. I know
for my two friends and the millions more like them there is little solace in
these words, but peace in the face of adversity is the key.