I bet you couldn't read this till the end.
"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."
Right now, I think about all the trials I've been through, all the problems I've had, all the frustration I felt, and all the grief and pain I've had to pass, and the thought that God has been with me through all this just gives me so much joy and peace.
.The future once looked at in fear now has hope. The sunrise is anticipated, and opening my eyes to a new day has so much more meaning. It tells me that God has given me another day to glorify His name. As I see, hear, and talk to people, I thank God for He continues to give them their lives to live as well. As things perceived to be either good or bad happen, I hold fast to God's word, and the fact that all things happen for the good of those who love Him.
We serve a God who has loved us from the start. He is the God who has seen us lie, lust, steal, hate, abuse and hurt countless others throughout the centuries. He is the God who could have ended our lives, our thoughts, our hopes and our dreams in an instant.
He is the God.. He IS God. The everlasting God, the great creator of the universe. And instead of annihilating this worthless race, He chose to love us by sending His son to live as we lived, so He could feel what we felt. He laughed with us. He cried with us. All before He decided to feel the punishment of the sins of the whole world through His brutal torture and execution in Calvary.
Right now, I am in pain. The consequences of a reckless & selfish lifestyle are taking their toll on my flesh, in the form of infection in areas generating maximum discomfort. Take pain equivalent to the extraction of an impacted wisdom tooth, turn it down a notch, but make it last a good number of hours at a time. Yeah. Ouch. And it couldn't have happened at a worser (?) time than this vacation.
Ah, yes. This vacation. This time off. The pain I speak of would used to have been all to dissuade me from saying I was happy. Au Contraire, I thought. I simply cannot deny the observation that a pain of such proportions is coming at a time that relationships are being healed, friendships are being strengthened, people are being brought closer to Christ, and minds are being straightened out.
Attacks are being made on me & my family. This pain would've gotten me off track. But my hope, my faith is in God, whose mercies are as high as the heavens are from the earth. I am assured that the victory that comes would be sweeter with every blow that needs to be endured.
Part of the text I quoted above was one of the first Bible verses I found to be monumental in my relationship with Christ. Little did I realize that the bigger chunk where it sat in (By the way, that would be James 5:13-16 to be precise) would continue to help me now. God's strength is truly made known in my weakness.
Right now, I admit I am suffering. For that, I pray.
Right now, I am glad to say that I am also cheerful. For that, I sing praise.
Last Friday, I got a fortune cookie with the message: "Your example will inspire others."
If you've reached this far, I thank you, and I hope that the message I got after yet another beautiful feast held true to its word. Consider starting or strengthening your relationship with Christ. I'm not saying life as you see it will be better, but I assure you, the peace to be felt is nothing short of PERFECT. God bless you with wisdom.
And God bless the rest of the week for you. I sincerely pray that this blog finds you well.