Sorrow and Suffering: What We Don't See, Part 2

 

This past weekend, I had the privilege of speaking up in Maine at Living Waters Bible Camp.

Believe me, the setting was magical...

...the women eager to hear from the Lord...

...the worship incredible...

...the weather perfect...

...and, I spent most of my "free" time in bed.

Somehow, a stomach virus found me as I passed through airports, visited rental car companies, and one hotel on my way Northeast. 

I was totally fine on Thursday (travel day), Friday (driving north from Portland, and for the first speaking session), but woke up Saturday with this BUG and a slight fever (chills). 

I looked again at the schedule, praying it changed during the night, but, nope, three different speaking sessions graced the day ahead: 8:30 AM, 11:00 AM, and 2:00 PM. 

I wondered how in the world I'd run this marathon with energy, passion, enthusiasm, and clarity?

No way, but oNe WaY: The sustaining power of the Spirit of the Lord.

While this sickness can't be put into the category of intense suffering and sorrow, it became a reminder to me of what we don't see, but need to remember in the midst of these seasons of difficulty.

The Lord is aLwAyS WITH us.

Had it not been for His amazing power, His infused strength, and His ability to speak through weak, dependent, totally empty (believe me - empty in EVERY WAY) vessels, my trip to Maine might have been a disaster.

Instead, it became a vibrant reminder that while we don't always see Him in the midst, He is vividly at work and with us. 

Bay sent out messages.

People around me prayed.

My prayer warriors around the world prayed.

My family prayed.

And, God answered - I finished all three sessions with clarity and with a "degree" of energy, AND as an added bonus the Lord met each one of us there in that little chapel at our point of need. 

Today's message is short.

Yet, sometimes in the midst of our trials, it's a message we forget.

GOD IS WITH US.

In fact, I showed the ladies this little diagram as a reminder to tuck in their pockets - it is not rocket science, but it has the power to help us endure and not quit in the midst of suffering seasons.

There I am... As a Jesus Follower...

I am in Jesus, my Savior and Lord...

He is in God the Father, the Sovereign King of the Universe...

...and the Spirit of God is within me to teach, to empower, to enlighten, to guide, to comfort... 

I am NEVER ALONE. 

You are NEVER ALONE.

His presence goes with you wherever you are. 

With this, I close with the following quote. I've used it before many times, but it is a perfect reminder as we close.

There is nothing…no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me, until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. BUT as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him, and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret. For I shall rest in the joy of who my God is!!!

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Enjoy your Fourth of July! There will be no blog next week, as I intend to enjoy the whole week with my family being in town. 

Join me in celebration of our freedom.

Sorrow and Suffering: What We Don't See, Part 1

While we were on the mission field in Kenya, news arrived on our doorstep of several Christians martyred for their faith just north of us in Yemen. 

For me, this was the first time I really had to sit with and process through the concept of personal persecution...

Of course, I'd read of others who were martyred for faith in Jesus, but the reality of living in a foreign country where opposition to the gospel presented itself on all sides, caused me to dig a little bit deeper into the "what ifs" that might come my way. 

As news reports and letters with information began to reach our mission station, one thing stood out to me above all others. 

"Those who died did not have their lives taken, their lives were freely given."

(as reported by the IMB of Southern Baptists)

The reports reminisced each missionary's call to the field, their sending service at their home churches, the messages of each victim as they reminded their churches that as the call came and they answered, they knew the risks, they counted the costs.

Each spoke of going to serve whole-heartedly with lives on the altars - declaring fervently that the Lord could do with their lives as He chose in order to advance the gospel and see souls enter the Kingdom.

AND...this is exactly what happened at that hospital in Yemen. As locals came to receive help and medical treatment, the gospel was dispensed along with the much needed medication and surgeries provided. 

Because of these who'd freely offered their lives on the altar to serve, the response to the gospel, even in a Muslim country, far exceeded expectation. 

I realized that what I did not know outweighed what I did know. 

God sees the unseeable future and He knows the lasting outcomes that we will only know about in eternity. 

What I did not truly know or comprehend: 

God uses everything, even tragedy (which breaks His heart) to see the gospel proclaimed and kingdom followers multiplied. 

(Because of Christ, our suffering is not useless. It is part of the total plan of God, who has chosen to redeem the world through the pathway of suffering. RC Sproul)

Then, months later, one of my dear friends was murdered a mile away from our home during a robbery gone wrong. 

She and her husband also served the Lord in a strong Muslim based city in south Kenya. 

As the thieves determined she'd seen too much, they began viciously beating her alongside the road, out of greed, anger, fear, and ignorance.

As a car coming down the highway, scared them off, and her nearly unconscious husband, crawled to her side to cradle her, my friend's final words were:

"They just need Jesus." 

Oh, the heart harbored within her that beat passionately for the lost! 

What truth...they just need Jesus.

My friend lived and died that others, who needed what she possessed, might have their emptiness filled. 

At her celebration of life in that Muslim community, where the folks dearly loved her, we received reports of over 500 men and women who gave their lives to Jesus. 

Sometimes, what we don't see, know or understand, in our sorrow and suffering is how Jesus redeems tragedy by bringing the lost into the fold. 

Sometimes, what we don't see goes deeper than what is obvious on the surface. 

We may sow with tears, but reap with great joy later. 

Sometimes, what we don't see is that the price we pay in sorrow and suffering might be worth the cost for what is reaped on the other side. 

"They just need Jesus." 

So many do!

How do we, then, live in our suffering that others might see Him and find their way to the cross?

Jesus endured His suffering in order to redeem His people. But those He redeemed are not thereby delivered from all pain and misery. Indeed, as we shall see, we His people are called to participate in His suffering.”
― R.C. Sproul

Naming Your Pain

I've continued to reflect on that week we spent in Boone, NC back in 2014 (if you didn't read last week's blog, stop now and do so for a bit of context). Link here. 

I learned a lot about caring for people in trauma, as well as tucked away a few stones in my pocket for when the same begins to stomp into my territory like some taunting giant. 

Today's blog centers on one of the first hurdles that needed jumping as I flew Eastward from Colorado.

For some reason, they appointed me to kick off the first night of speaking in chapel to these battle-worn-and-weary-soldiers, desperately needing a retreat body, soul, and mind. 

I knew I'd be sharing (they gave me plenty of notice); but, I wrestled with what I, simple and ordinary, could share that might give them a boost, a little oxygen to the heart, nourishment to the soul. 

What did I know of suffering? 

Never in my life had I experienced "Ebola-hard."

Could I even relate to these warriors who'd sacrificed so much to beat back a visible, and an invisible, enemy?

Did I understand sorrow and suffering in comparison? 

The night before we were to fly out, I woke up unable to sleep, these questions racing through me.

So, as is typical (when this occurs), I crawled out of the warmth of my bed, landed on the couch in the family room, where I have my quiet time each morning.

With this struggle to find the right words at the right time for my friends fresh in my mind, I picked up where I left off in my daily Bible reading.

That happened to be in Psalm 18, aptly titled "The Lord is My Rock and My Fortress!"

The title alone boosted my spirit...My God would hide me within Himself, and strengthen me with the words to speak.

There are some great verses in Psalm 18, but this is the verse (29) that leapt off the pages into my soul (random, I know):

Indeed, with [God's] help, I can charge against an enemy; 

by my God's power, I can jump over a wall.

While the enemy lurking at my front door, tried to discourage and dissuade me from that which my God had asked of me, I had a  powerful ally the enemy could not defeat. 

His name is Jehovah Gibbor Milchama (David's name for The Lord Mighty in Battle).

My Lord would enable me to run at that old foe (the one who made it his business to question my abilities) with victory already won...and He, my Lord, would even help me jump the hurdles that stood in the way.

With that the Lord reminded me that sorrow and suffering is no respecter of persons. 

It hits us all...and we cannot compare our sorrow and suffering to someone else's, because they are SO VERY VERY PERSONAL! 

We, also, can't significantly declare that anyone's problems enter their lives at a lesser degree than someone else's: the situations are just DIFFERENT. 

Suffering is still suffering no matter what its name; and, we have to name it before we can move forward. 

Once, we agree that what we are experiencing is a HARD THING IN OUR LIVES RIGHT NOW, we are able to begin the journey toward healing. 

One friend wrote me at the beginning of this series, and said this (it's so important):

"Once, when I was going through a season of suffering, I was reluctant to label it as such. I didn't want to call it suffering because that's what was happening to Christians in China, the Sudan, Iran, North Korea, and I certainly didn't have it that bad! But when I stopped comparing my suffering to that of others, and named it for what it was, it opened up to me all those promises of God from the Scriptures, as well as the ability to receive the comfort of God (and the dispensing of it to others)...and, THAT'S WHEN I GOT UNSTUCK, and began to see GOD WITH ME IN THE SUFFERING." (Mary Wilhelm)

Ponder that...

Before I can enter into healing, I have to see my struggles for what they are... 

I MUST name them as such.

Then make a plan for moving forward biblically.

THIS WAS THE KEY for determining what I would be sharing with my dear friends, just having walked through Ebola-hard. 

I named my season of suffering.

It looked different than theirs, but it was still a hardship unimaginable for me.

It was a "hard" unexpected that nearly unraveled my faith...

...but, I was able to share that story and how the Lord entered in, redeemed my sorrow and suffering, and taught me invaluable lessons in it, that I could now share with them and others.

Yes, in all hardship, God wastes nothing. 

He will use it to help us enter into someone else's pain and become a comfort-dispenser as a result.

First - we have to identify and claim it for what it truly is...

Grace and Suffering: How the Two Meet Shade for Shade

Back in 2014, Bay and I were asked by a friend of ours (who works closely beside Franklin Graham at Samaritan's Purse) to fly back to Boone, NC to assist with the debrief of their Liberia team.

This team evacuated the country a mere 15-days prior to our arrival after the devastating effects of Ebola took their tole on the team in every way. 

Those previous 15-days had been spent in isolation and quarantine, and now these dear folks were being brought to headquarters for a season of debrief. 

That's why we were on site. 

Bay and/or I would speak in a chapel service each day, and then we would meet (along with other counselors) one-on-one with team members.

Why us?

Well, because the head of the Liberian team attended RVA during the time that we were there, and he and his family were very much "family" to us; and, because just prior to the Ebola outbreak, Bay had spent a couple of weeks ministering there in Liberia with them, staying on their compound.

That September, I learned that Ebola wasn't just a noun, it became, for this team and those associated with them, an adjective to describe a form of HaRdShIp and SuFfErInG: the most difficult form any of them experienced to date.

To define suffering is difficult.

Webster doesn't do the word justice to the depths that match the experience, saying only, "the conscious endurance of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship."

According to Buddhism there are four universal sufferings of mankind: birth, aging, sickness, and death. 

Buddhists apparently forget that "living," in general, need be included...for we will all experience, at one time or another, a form of suffering that just comes from walking this earthly road.

James, the brother of Jesus, uses a WORD to remind us of this. 

He says:

Count it all joy....WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE TRIALS (including suffering, hardship, persecution, pain, difficulty of any kind)...

James 1:2

Did you catch that word, WHEN....

Not if.

When.

James is strongly emphasizing being prepared in order that we might respond to these seasons of life with joy (not happiness): 

 a deep inner calmness of spirit that leans upon trust in a God who is Sovereign and still in control of all that happens to us. 

Ebola was excruciatingly hard. 

Not just the disease (though that was a nightmare), but on so many other levels.

Ebola meant imminent death: the life of friends and loved ones snuffed out before your eyes, the end of a successful ministry, the death of a dream, the death of a culture you had come to embrace as your own, the death of naivety, the death of a season of peace, the death of day-to-day routine, even the death of an ability to process what is happening as it occurs (rather, living in survival mode, existing in the day to day, simply doing what must be done next)...

For you and I, we can replace Ebola-hard with another adjective.

You fill in the blank:

__________________ -hard (divorce, prodigal-children, cancer, murder, rape, child-sex-trafficking, abuse, car-accident, recovery from addiction, military-deployment, pregnant-out-of-wedlock, not-enough-money-to-pay-the-bills, religious persecution, imprisonment, loss of reputation, misunderstanding, relationship)

For all of us, hard is just hard; and, suffering is traumatic...

These things never happen expectantly. 

Suffering ALWAYS catches us off guard.

It takes our breath away, and our ability to think and formulate a plan forward is paralyzed.

So, back to James' words. 

Here are the verses in their entirety, and here is where I camp today...

Count it all joy, my brothers (and sisters), when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.  

James 1:2-4, ESV

This verse became a life-line during this season of walking alongside those suffering from Ebola-hard. 

They weren't meant for our dear friends, not in that moment, but for Bay and I, as we processed our own experiences with the hard that the Lord has allowed us to walk through, and will give His permission for in the future....and, maybe for you.

These were our lessons:

1) Be as prepared as possible. Trials, tribulation, and trauma are coming. Know how, where, and methods/ways to steady your heart before-hand.

2) Remember all suffering can either make us bitter or it can make us better. Choose better. What can I learn in my current suffering? Where is the Lord in this? How do I see Him at work? 

3) Stay steadfast in faith. The easiest path to take is the one that walks away from the Lord. Steadfastness requires bravery and patient waiting. There is no question, trials often tell us what is really ruling our hearts - faith or fear? trust or doubt? The age old question is being asked of us, once again: "Did God really say ___________?"

4) Of all the lessons, this one is BIGGER to me than all the others. In it, I rely heavily under every circumstance that comes my way:

Trials come in all shapes and sizes.

James uses the word "various" to describe the trials we will experience.

Greek word: poikos

ποικίλος

I've heard some bible teachers say it's where we get our word for "polka-dots." I don't know if this is true or not, but it does mean diverse, literally, "many colored," or many shades of color. 

Isn't that a perfect description? All our trials come in a variety of shades - some are darker, deeper and more intense than others; in the same vein, some are light, delicate, vivid and bright. 

I remember cross-referencing "poikos" during that early September in Boone, NC.

One of the verses that stood out to me, I discovered in Peter's writings (1 Peter 4:10) as he described the grace of God. His words: God's "varied grace." His "poikos"grace. His manifold grace. His many-shaded grace. 

I imagine you're connecting the dots, just as I did.

FOR EVERY SHADE OF TRIAL THAT COMES OUR WAY, THERE IS AN EQUAL SHADE OF GRACE TO MATCH. 

The Lord comes alongside of us to meet our trials shade for shade with His grace. 

He gives us exactly what we need..

With grace like that at my disposal,  how could I not stay steadfast, if for no other reason than to see how my Lord resolves the trials, and makes all things new according to His amazing grace, when life all pans out in the end.