Description
Pain, emotional and physical, has a way of getting and keeping our attention. Sometimes, especially at first, it is all we can think about. Sometimes we wonder why this is happening to me or why God is allowing this difficulty to occur. We will likely go to our graves with some questions unanswered to us. But if one is of the Christian belief and subscribes to the truth of the Bible a great comfort is given us in the book or Romans. Although Paul, the great missionary, suffered more than most anyone who will read these words he pointed out to us in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for the good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Note that he did not say all things “feel” good but that they work together for good. In over a quarter of a century of professional counseling I have seen and heard some very difficult stories. Ones in which one would wonder how anything good could possibly occur. But after sixty-six years of life I have seen many good things come out of what appeared bad at the moment. That’s the good news, the bad news is sometimes it took decades for it to happen. (There are some advantages to getting older.)
So my encouragement to you is to try to let your mind image in the future how God could use what you are going through currently to help someone else. There is a therapist leading a sexual abuse recovery group who never dreamed thirty years ago what happened to her could help another. There is a man leading a grief support group who never believed the car wreck that took is wife and daughter could ever help someone else. Nothing is beyond God’s ability to help others but we must look, even in our pain, for the seed of hope that can help us get through the difficult time, realizing it is not happening without a purpose even if we are not cognizant of it at this time.
Use the Card to…
- Give you hope in midst of difficult circumstances
- Help you visualize what may seem impossible, that someone could be helped in the future from your suffering now
- Help you draw closer to God in this difficult time
- Make you more aware of our connectedness to others that expands beyond both our personal suffering and time
