What can I say?
Faith is hard.
It's a daily commitment.
It costs.
I just finished my post for Working Together (working-together-inc.blogspot.com) about persecution and an old movie I watched yesterday about the Nazis invading Denmark. Lots of hard thoughts, and wondering about us in 2023.
GOD doesn't just make all our problems go away.
We suffer... for doing nothing wrong.
We suffer because people sin, because we sin, because others sin against us. I have thought about these issues with suffering a very long time. This is what I decided was true. It all has to do with GOD's promise of Free Will -- we have the right to choose, good or evil. It is the basis of all GOD stands for.
Suffering is the big argument against GOD. People tend to blame GOD for everything they suffer, and they expect GOD to just fix everything that is wrong with the world. When you seriously think about these issues, you see that the idea is ridiculous - there is no way GOD can make every life without pain and still give us the will to choose our path.
He can't stop the bad choices of others from hurting us either.
When I studied the Bible more deeply, I saw a GOD that only intervened in essential moments, when there is no other choice, when He needed to. When His greater Will was involved, He acted. That would be most evident in saving Jesus from the attacks of evil that wanted to kill Him.
When I suffer, I try to see the cause, God's Purpose, and my part. It isn't always easy to find the spiritual details and keep my faith in GOD. Suffering is hard. It hurts.
The world has been struggling for some time now, especially with the effects of COVID. No one expected anything like COVID to happen. The damage it did will never go away. We will all keep looking for ways to recover.
I keep coming back to the fact that GOD is able to do whatever needs to be done. We may not get what we want, but GOD is still in charge. We may be facing a test, may be the focus of some evil battle, may be heading into GOD's Plan for our future - there's no way for us to fully understand all the details of our current struggles. But we know GOD could do something if it was needed, so we trust Him to provide what we need to accomplish HIS WILL. Even is we die, we trust GOD through the hard times and the good times. It is all leading us to heaven, if we keep our faith in Him.
I'm 70 now, so I am ready to leave this earth. It is expected I will die soon. I wonder how younger people will meet their suffering. Will they give up and run to the temptations Satan uses on them? Will they lose their place in heaven because they aren't prepared to suffer for what they believe in? It is hard for me to think of friends and family turning away from heaven because they don't want to suffer, have no one to help them, or don't even know what the Bible teaches about our time in history.
I wonder what other Christians believe.
What do you believe about suffering and persecution for your faith? Are you ready for it? Do you have a plan?
Let me know what about your struggles and faith. How do you deal with it?
In Christ,
Deborah Martin
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