I heard a sermon yesterday where the pastor preached on 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. It talks about how through our trusting in the Lord, we are made a new creation. We are given the opportunity for our lives to be transformed. My recovery from Guillain Barre has given me a new appreciation for what that means. I have thought a great deal and now have written about how my life has changed because of my auto immune system going haywire in late February/early March of 2019. This morning in a devotional written by Randy Wolff he talked about how a friend of his is handling suffering. It communicates exactly what I have been trying to articulate over these last few months. “Suffering woke me up! I am fully awake and aware of new lessons being learned daily. I just knew about the lessons before. Now I really know priority and who to depend upon.”Sometimes we all need suffering to make us fully awake and alive. I am now convinced of this truth. I have more faith because of what I have experienced.” This quote is exactly why I started this blog. I want to choose and encourage others to be thankful in all things, good or bad.
Sometimes we all need suffering to make us fully awake and alive.
What follows is the way I paraphrased 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 to personalize it for me. “Since my bout with Guillain Barre Syndrome I now know what it is to fear the Lord and why I now feel compelled to persuade others to do the same. I am not trying to commend myself to you but am touched and humbled by folks saying my faith and fight has been an inspiration. I am thankful that my recovery has given me an opportunity to answer those who dwell on what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. Christ’s love and the love shown to me and Dottie is what compelled us, because we are convinced that the one who died for all, Jesus, met us in what was indeed a nadir moment. So from now on I will strive to regard nothing from a worldly point of view. Though I believed Christ would be our rock no matter what, I now know it to be true. I speak boldly that Therefore, since I know I am in Christ, the new creation has come both physically and spiritually. I am learning the old has gone and because of what I have and am going through, a new me is here! I am ,therefore, Christ’s ambassador, and God has given me a platform to make His appeal to you through me. I write to implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. Why? Because one never knows when adversity will come your way and you definitely want God at your side when it does.” God has showed up time and time again for me which has given me renewed confidence in a promise I have always known to be true and now has been verified.
Thank you Michael for your willingness to share in your suffering. It does make you so much more grateful for a completely loving God. You don’t doubt that He is with you always…I truly believed that I was being carried in the Lord’s arms through my illness this past year. My faith has grown tremendously as well. You are an inspiration to me Michael.
Thank you sweet friend. Best!
Through the suffering death of our Lord Jesus and then His resurrection, even “suffering” is now redeemed! This was your experience–“redeemed suffering.” Thanks for sharing it, Mike.
Without this “fuller” understanding of suffering, not only are we less able to bear up under the pressure, but in some instances make poor choices (ex. “God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy, suffer, in my marriage, maybe I should divorce;” “I have 2 years to live with terminal cancel, perhaps I should end the suffering…”)
The good news in Jesus is that suffering is redeemed…is used for His glory and our good!
Amen Rick. Thanks so much
Thanks for sharing, Michael! Your story is so very powerful, and embodies one of my favorite quotes: “Suffering helps us further define our capacity for life and for love.”
Keep it up, my friend!
Thank you so much. Grateful for you brother.