Being uncomfortable

As you can see from all these entries I have been on a steep learning curve the last year. There is a lot that God is teaching me and certainly a lot of it has been a bit uncomfortable. I have quoted Jennifer Rothschild a lot because her book has impacted me greatly. Her book "Lessons I learned in the Dark" is a lot about walking by faith. She points out that "the wilderness teaches us who we are and whom we really trust". She also said that God is much more interested in our character than our comfort.

Isn't it interesting that we would say that about our children. We are much more interested in their character than our children being comfortable all the time. We often have to make tough decisions for them because we want them to be Godly women and men some day. We want them to make good choices, and so it is with this love that we train and teach them.

Why is it that we don't allow God to do this in our lives? Do we question his love for us and cannot trust that he is more interested in our character?

I have often reflected on how we hate to be uncomfortable. We complain about our busy lives and we wonder when we will get a break. Then when we do get a break we are uncomfortable because we don't know what to do with ourselves. The rest or solitude is awkward. We feel like we need to fill every moment with something. What does that say about our lives? When was the last time you just sat in silence to hear from God? We hate to suffer and when it does come we are surprised and we think of it as an unexpected and unwanted intruder.

I have learned a lot about suffering from my brother and I know that this has helped me a lot during this time. It was very difficult for me to feel sorry for myself because my brother had it so much worse than I did. In fact, through this I have gained a heart of compassion for all that he has gone through . I could now identify in a way I couldn't otherwise.

I honestly admit that I have often been perplexed by suffering and by really hard things that happen. I have met people that have a lot of anger towards God for the problems they face. They have asked "Is God punishing me?"

It is through my brother and other peoples example that I think I understand another piece of the puzzle. I do not deny that sometimes we feel the consequences of our bad choices, but I also think that we live in a fallen world and because of that we are going to be afflicted with disease and problems and we are even going to unfortunately be affected by others bad decisions and mistakes. This is a hard reality! I have come to realize that God is weeping with my brother and me and those that have bodies that are not working properly. God wants us not to focus on the present but on the future where we will have new bodies. This is not our home!

It is with this perspective that I can go on. I can clearly see that he can redeem all things. I look at people who have gone through very hard times with God as their helper and I marvel at their perspective . Only God could do that and so that motivates me to ask God to do that in my life.

Next time: Contentment