Blessed inconvenience

I have said before that I am thankful that I have not really suffered, pain or illness with my tumor. This passage pretty well describes what my experience has been so for, an inconvenience, for me and for my family. My condition has certainly put a strain on those who depend on my help, to say the least. It has been difficult for me because I cannot do the things I am usually accustomed to. I am anxious about things I never worried about before this happened. In that respect, I am suffering!

But I am also learning to trust God on a daily basis as I have never trusted Him before: for such things as energy to finish the tasks before me; or peace in the midst of turmoil; for purpose in my life on a daily basis; and for Him to use this circumstance for my good and His glory. I have had several really bad days, but praise God! I am feeling like a new woman today—well, maybe not new, but gently used! J

“We may take heart from the suffering of Job. Suffering was the necessary proof of the reality of his faith—to us, as his contemporaries and his enemy Satan (his and ours). The suffering of our Savior proved the reality of His love for His Father. The world still needs to be shown that there are those who, no matter what the circumstances, will, for love of Him, do exactly what God commands.

When we surrender ourselves to the Lord, learning day by day to treat all that comes to us with peace of soul and firm conviction that His will governs all, (I pray that this will be my daily surrender to Him), He will see our growth in grace. He will so govern the events in our lives as to provide for us the conditions which may make us fruitful. It is not for our sake but for the sake of others. The beauty of the flower is not for itself. It offers itself to God’s sunshine and rain, gives its fragrance to any who pass by, but it must wither and die before the fruit can be produced.

Faith need never ask, ‘But what good did this do me?’ Faith already knows that everything that happens fits into a pattern for good to those who love God. An inconvenience is always, whether we see it or not, a blessed inconvenience. We may rest in the promise that God is fitting together a good many more things than are any of our business. We need never see ‘what good it did,’ or how a given trouble accomplishes anything. It is peace to leave it all with Him, asking only that He do with me anything He wants, anywhere, anytime, that God may be glorified.”

I pray that this prayer will become a reality in my life. I am afraid it is easier to give lip service that it is to walk this out in faith.