Good morning!
I beg your pardon as this one is going to be short. I have a very sick little girl who hopefully, finally, is resting, so I've got a few moments to do this.
Verse 12 of Romans 12 really stuck out to me, and one part in particular:
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.Now while it all is connected, the patient in affliction really hit home today. Our family has been dealing with an ongoing health issue with our daughter. It is heart wrenching enough when a child is sick, but when the same child is repeatedly sick with the same thing, it is almost too much. This has been going on for over 3 years now and her doctor, well lets just say I've fired her doctor.
I've found myself, while in the midst of a flare up, or whatever you'd call it, praying that the Lord would just take this away! Nadia herself will ask for prayer every Sunday for her illness. This is definitely an affliction. But I have to ask myself, am I patient?
I heard one time from AW Tozer that we shouldn't pray for an affliction to be taken away from ourselves or those that we love. To do so is to rob us of our change agent, our opportunity to be closer to our Lord. Huh, never thought of it that way.
If we are patient in our affliction, eventually it will come to an end, all things do. And through it we will be changed.
And those other thoughts, joyful in hope and faithful in prayer are the things that carry us, that help us bide our time till the affliction is ended. We look forward to the fulfillment of the hope that we have in Jesus; that He will carry us home, that He will end the affliction. We are joyful for that end. And we pray, faithfully, everyday, every minute that our lesson is learned fully so that the affliction might end and we can have relief! We pray that we look to the Lord, rather than ourselves and our situation. Because that's all that life is meant to be, to draw us to Jesus.
And so we wait. Patiently I hope, I pray.
Tomorrow's passage: Isaiah 65-66, Romans 13
3 comments:
Great thoughts Kathryn. Patience is so difficult, and I find it more so when you are required to be patient surrounding a loved one's affliction. Another of our Romans verses that ALWAY speaks to me in hard times is 5:2-4 "...And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out is love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Praying your family feels that love He has poured out for you.
Thanks, Kathryn. It's always good to be reminded that affliction and hard times are what bring about changes in us.
Amazing the lessons we can learn from only 3 words in God's Word "patient in affliction". Great post Kathryn, thank you.
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