{"id":25904,"date":"2017-09-16T17:32:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T16:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?p=25904"},"modified":"2020-06-07T20:16:43","modified_gmt":"2020-06-07T19:16:43","slug":"christian-not-suffering-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2017\/09\/christian-not-suffering-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian, You Are Not Suffering Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Image: Tamasin Warnock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

There is something inherently lonely about suffering. As much as others try to be empathetic, they cannot fully understand<\/strong>. <\/em>Your own suffering is unique to you, even if it does have\u00a0similarities to others.<\/p>\n

One of the dangers of social media like Facebook is that if you are having a difficult\u00a0time, the lives of others can seem perfect, and you can convince yourself they have no problems to face. As I said in my last post, however, the truth is that EVERYBODY does experience suffering of different kinds of sufferings at different times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Knowing that you are part of a suffering community can be encouraging. But what is more encouraging still is knowing that you are still a child of God, and that he has made certain promises to you. \u00a0I wanted to share with you today one promise that I have come back to time and again in the last 18 months since a friend\u00a0sent me these words as a form of prophetic encouragement:<\/p>\n

\u2026the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore<\/a>, confirm<\/a>, strengthen<\/a>, and establish<\/a> you (1 Peter 5:9-10)<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lets begin to focus on some of the key words in these verses.<\/p>\n