Suffering SuccessfullySample

Peace in Suffering

There are so many different ways that you can suffer.

A death. The ending of a specific relationship that you valued. The crashing of a dream. Divorce. Medical issues in yourself or those you love. Mental frailties. Spiritual battles/weaknesses. Abuse (physical, verbal, emotional, and mental). Intentional and unintentional offenses by people you trusted.

Regardless of the cause of grief within suffering, One thing remains the same: we can trust God. He has promised never to leave nor forsake us. There are seven verses with that same promise! (Heb 13:5, Psa. 94:14, Deut. 31:6 & 8, Jos 1:5, Deut. 4:31, Acts 2:27).

God has promised He'd be with us in all the deep waters of life (Isa. 43:2-5)!

Although our sufferings can look very different and take different time frames to overcome, we each have the same solution to the issues at hand: Jesus.

Jesus, "is Peace." (John 16:33).

Asking Him to administer His Peace to us is as simple as that, and He can do it in surprising ways.

Often, we have not, simply because we don't ask Him for it (James 4:2b).

It sometimes seems impossible to obtain Peace when the suffering is beyond what you could have imagined. To receive it, the focus must be on God delivering what we need as we need it.

Often, our focus is very much on suffering, which prevents Peace.

Sometimes, I've felt like I need blinders that horses sometimes have to wear to prevent being off-course.

Blinders are a type of horse tack that prevents the horse from seeing behind it and sometimes to the side. They are also used in horse racing to block the horse's peripheral vision so it won't get distracted.

Being distracted in our suffering is normal but is a process that only God can re-direct through the Power of His Holy Spirit at work through our choices. We can "choose Peace."

We can hypothetically create blinders for ourselves by choosing to open God’s Word, ask The Holy Spirit to speak to us through our study, and intentionally apply what we’ve read…whether we “feel like it” or not.

Feelings wax and wain. You can’t trust them. But there’s One thing that can always be trusted. God’s Word. It’s true and faithful!