I'd rather have Jesus."
Why does God call us to suffering in order to be intimate with him? Is it because we can identify with His cross? Is it because it is there that we learn that this world is not our home and that we long for something more? God calls us to carry our cross daily and follow him and for each of us that means something different. For some of us that means physical pain and illness, for others it means relational heart ache and still for others it means financial stress and a myriad of other difficulties in this life. Jesus himself says that in this world we would have trouble but Frusta take heart for he has overcome the world. This is not all there is, God has so much waiting for us I think of another scripture that says that our sufferings are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. I'm grateful for this hope, I hold on to this promise and I wait expectantly for all that God has prepared for those of us who believe and trust in his appearing...
Henry Nouwen in his book, "The Inner Voice of Love", talks about a journey from anguish to freedom and one of the things that he talks about is to live our wounds through. To experience those wounds instead of thinking them through but to live them through so that our wounds would come to a place of healing deep within our spirits. Instead of asking ourselves questions like, Why was I wounded, when, how or by whom. We believe that these answers will bring relief but they only may offer us a little distance from our pain. We have to let go of our need to stay in control of our pain and trust in the healing power of our God through our hearts.
The only way out is through the pain and to calling out and crying out to God in our deepest anguish and sorrow and seeking his face, for it is there that we don't have to understand but only trust that Christ is able to make all grace abound to us and we can say with certainty yea though you slay me yet will I trust you"! "God is our refuge and our strength a very present help in our time of need and "if God is for us then who can be against us". Run into the arms of your father, your heavenly father who is perfect; he is all loving, compassionate and kind to each of us... For he is "the God of all comfort" and truly this is all we need to know...
