Through The Mud

Adversity introduces a man to himself.

Adversity. Affliction. Distress. Discomfort. Misfortune. Hardship.

Suffering. A word NO ONE wants to hear, right? The words mentioned above are synonyms for 'suffering.'  C.S. Lewis said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

We plot. We plan. We assume things are going to go a certain way. And when they don’t, we find ourselves in a new place—a place we haven’t been before, a place we never would have imagined on our own. It is the difficult and the unexpected, and maybe even the tragic, that opens us up and frees us to see things in new ways. Many of the most significant moments in our lives come not because it all went right but because it all fell apart. Suffering does that. It hurts, but it also creates.

Here's what the Bible says in 1 Peter:

 ^13-18If with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off. Don't give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath. It's better to suffer for doing good, if that's what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God. (The Message)

Jesus paid it all.

The antonyms for suffering are hopeful. Happiness. Health. and Joy.
If you are suffering, I pray that it will bend you, and break you--but  into a better shape until you reach health and happiness.


Redeemed, JAS. :)