In fact, i am right in the middle of said occurences as we speak. Not much fun all right, all right--but O Lord, thank you for the Spiritual Growth which results! Although the well-worn saying, "NO PAIN, NO GAIN" is, in some contexts, very trite and banal, Spiritually speaking, it is absolutely TRUE and its fruits most glorious. i assume you are not asking the question regarding TRUST IN GOD out of idle curiosity, but are experiencing pain of your own at the moment, so i'll run through the quickie version of my recent experiences in the hopes that there might be something you can relate to and use as a defense against the evil one playing with your mind.
QUICKLY: about 5 months ago i had the stupidest on-the-job injury ever--i walked off the edge of an auditorium stage in the dark and broke my right foot. i mean this injury was so stupid that my employeer required that i get an immediate drug test because no one could believe that someone who could do something so bizarre was not under the influence of something.
From my end, as a Christian--believing that nothing happens in the life of a Christian which is not a part of His plan for the Christian's life--i wracked my brain and prayed up a storm that i might learn whatever the lesson was that God was trying to teach me through this embarrasing occurance. There were no serious anomolies in my Christian walk, and with an open heart and mind i could not discern what was amiss that God was tried to get my attention about or what the lesson was that He was trying to teach. (i think this is called the "Job Complex".)
i struggled with the pain and the embarrasment and, above all, with the feelings of the meaninglessness of the whole situation--up until my final blood test results came back with an 8.5 on the P.S.A.. i forget (even now) what P.S.A. stands for exactly, but basically it is a potential indicator of Prostate Cancer. My readings have always been a little high, but 8.5 was high enough to where my doctor wouldn't allow me to ignore it as i was want to do in the past and forced--YES FORCED
me to get a biopsy done which, as you have doubtless already guessed, turned up cancerous.
Sooooooo . . . . taking a deep breath (quite of few of them, actually) i told my wife the situation and she, being the Christian woman that she is, immediately Emailed each of my 6 children and most of our friends and acquaintences, in direct opposition to what she knew to be my desires (hasn't she ever read Paul's teachings of submissive wifes, etc.
)--i being kind of a withdrawn and private person--and informing each of them of my current physical status and need for prayer. Rude and inconsiderate and, well, non-submissive, yes, but through those Emails i have, over the last few months, become reconciled with my 2 oldest children from whom i have been extranged for perhaps 30 years due my addictive drinking, drugging, and abuse of the past. Now, the healings i have prayed for for many years have taken place in the Lord's time and in the Lord's (sometimes roundabout, to say the least) way.
Lastly, and actually quite leastly, my 30 days of unused Vacation time, which i was freting over losing on January 1st as per company vacation policies that you "use it or lose it" turns out the be the exact amount of recuperation time i need to recover my Friday's (12/7/05) Prostectomy of which, the surgeon said, he had never seen one go so well or look so good or have such a high success expectation--optomism which would not be prevailing in my case if a few more years had elapsed--as they undoubtedly would have had i not broken my foot in the first place--before the cancer was detected and treated. i honestly don't know whether to laugh, cry, or scream His praises--probably should do all of the above.
. i don't know which of the benefits of this "bunch of stuff in one" i should be the most thankful for--probably all of them equally and once.
IF you stay the course and trust in our Loving God NO MATTER WHAT, i am assured--and i, in turn, assure you--that you will WITHOUT A DOUBT also have ample cause for the use of smilies when what is going on with you is over and you look back on what God has done in your life--as it will be in God's Time and according to His Will. i'm still trying to take it all in, BUT AIN'T GOD GOOD!
MAY YOU FIND GOD'S PEACE, JOY, COMFORT, AND HEALING and the FAITH, HOPE, AND TRUST NECESSARY TO ALLOW THESE FRUITS TO OPERATE UNHAMPERED IN YOUR LIVE,
blessings from God and from christosanesti!
