“If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.” (2 Corinthians 1:6, ESV)
Ann saw him from a distance. She hadn’t seen him in months. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her heart was pounding as she walked towards him. She loved him more than he could ever know. But he never even made eye contact with her. As soon as he saw her, he turned and walked in the opposite direction. She walked after him calling out his name. Begging him to stop and talk to her. He kept on walking. Twenty-eight years of loving him unconditionally and he just walked out of her life. Callous and cold. She was devastated.
She found herself on the floor crying out to God. Having lived and loved the way God’s Word had instructed, she never saw this coming. They’d always had a close relationship. But he had different influences now. Those influences whispered untruths to him that were louder than the truth of the relationship they had.
As Ann prayed, she felt the Holy Spirit leading her to trust God with his life. To patiently endure the evil that had befallen and continue in the work the Lord had given her. (2 Timothy 2:24)
We see it happening all around us, families falling apart at alarming rates.
It can feel impossible to trust the Lord when overwhelmed from painful sufferings. If we only had to face one trial on this earth, we could breeze through it. But trial after trial wears on us physically, spiritually, and emotionally –survival requires endurance. Being hurt by someone we love creates a deeper wound.
Evil abounded in the city of Corinth. Most likely there were a lot of hurting people and broken families.
Paul was reminding them that God, the author of our lives would allow afflictions to come. Not to destroy us. But to grow us. Once we come to Jesus for salvation, we are called to grow in our faith. Our faith grows every time we choose to hold onto Christ instead of the heartache.
Suffering in a Christian manner means relying on God’s truth more than our feelings. It’s being tenacious and purposeful. Accepting delays without allowing anger or anxiety to take control. Continuing to hold on and “abide” in Christ when everything in you screams to give up. (John 15:4)
If you were able to talk with Ann, she would tell that as the years have gone by – God has not brought him back. But by choosing to patiently endure, God has comforted her so much that she overflows with compassion for others.
“Father, we believe that You have a plan for our pain. Help us to lean on You for strength to triumph over our pain and suffering to achieve Your goal for our lives.”
For His Glory,
Laura Holmes (www.ephraimministries.org)
TRBC Women’s Life
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