![\"photo-1457178212963-8bc72b619be5_opt\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/757\/2017\/05\/photo-1457178212963-8bc72b619be5_opt-300x157.jpg\")
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A homeschooling friend who I meet with on a regular basis contacted me recently and said she couldn\u2019t meet this week because she busted up her knee and was confined to her couch. We haven\u2019t been able to meet for a few months, due to either her misfortunes, or mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s with us?\u201d we asked. \u201cWhy all the troubles piling in?\u201d<\/p>\n
Then I wondered why we, as Christians, wondered. Seems someone is always asking why. Why me? Why now? Why so many trials? Why this<\/i> trial?<\/p>\n
Or more specifically \u2026<\/p>\n
Why did God allow my child to die? Why did I get in a car wreck? Why don\u2019t we make enough money to pay the bills? Why did Junior fall and crack his nose? Why can\u2019t my kids be like so and so\u2019s holy and upright kids? Why must I continually give myself away as a Mom and (seemingly) never receive anything in return? \u2018Bout time someone rose up and called me blessed, no?<\/p>\n
I Peter 4 talks about how we should not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try us, as though some strange thing happened to us. Instead we are to rejoice, to the extent that we partake of Christ\u2019s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, we may also be glad with exceeding joy.<\/p>\n
Those verses don\u2019t give specific answers to our why\u2019s. But they do tell us that the fact that we have trials is not odd. The Christian life, contrary to much of the rhetoric we hear today about rights and how we all deserve happiness (whatever that looks like to us), health, and wealth, is not about an easy breezy life. It\u2019s about taking up our cross and following Christ. It\u2019s about a guarantee that suffering will come. And it\u2019s about glorifying Him in the midst of that suffering.<\/p>\n
The Christian life is counter cultural. It\u2019s difficult, heart wrenching at times, and sometimes consists of trials so fiery we wonder if we will be able to withstand the heat.\u00a0But as the age old hymn How Firm A Foundation<\/em> says \u2026.<\/p>\n When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, <\/em> Our suffering is not for naught. Though it seems heavy, it\u2019s light. Though it seems endless, it\u2019s momentary. Though it seems meaningless, it\u2019s not. It\u2019s weighty, yes. But not in the way we think. It is, as Paul says, preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Cor. 4:17-18)<\/p>\n We don\u2019t search out trials or hope they come our way, just so we can receive a weightier glory in heaven. But if they do find us, we are not to be surprised or think it strange, and we are comforted in the midst of them by His all sufficient grace and presence. Though we may experience a full gamut of emotions when trials and suffering come, ultimately, the most proper response I can think of would be to say \u201cThy will be done, on earth, even as it is in heaven.\u201d And an added, humble \u201cLord, please be a light unto my path\u201d wouldn\u2019t hurt, as trials often require us to make difficult decisions.<\/p>\n I am grateful He doesn\u2019t place us in the fiery trial, then leave us stranded without hope or help. He never leaves or forsakes us. Yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death<\/em> (or even just motherhood or illness or anything less serious than death), we will fear no evil, for He is with us; His rod and His staff, they comfort us.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Cheer up, my sisters, live in the sunshine. We\u2019ll understand it, all by and by.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why did God allow my child to die? Why did I get in a car wreck? Why don’t we make enough money to pay the bills?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2920,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,86,126,176,157],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chronic-illness","tag-heaven","tag-motherhood","tag-psalm-23","tag-suffering"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nMy grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. <\/em>
\nThe flame shall not hurt thee, I only design\u00a0<\/em>
\nThy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.<\/em><\/p>\n