This may be a long post, but it is one that has been laid on my heart and that I feel God lead me to write about. Not for myself, but for the girls and now guy on my team. In the past month, no few weeks, the girls on my team have been going through, to be honest Hell. Courtney lost her father in a car accident and her mother is going through a rough recovery, Stephanie, my best friend, got diagnosed with cancer and may not get to be my partner in crime on this route anymore, and everyone is dealing with things that seem to be bringing them down. These are BIG struggles to deal with.
This past Sunday at church my pastor spoke an amazing message. He said that this sermon was not his original intent for the day, but after the week he went through he felt it necessary to talk about struggles that we go through and how as Christians we are not promised an easy life. He used this illustration…..
Imagine your life as a plastic grocery bag. It can easily withstand the weight of a gallon of milk and some cheese, or in our case, the struggles of a relationship failing, or a friend or yourself getting diagnosed with something serious. No problem the bag ( or ourselves) can easily carry that weight, that struggle. The he started to add more weight to the bag, then added a little more, before you know it Snap! the bag breaks. We break. We are only human we can not carry all of the weights of life on our own, we just can’t.
He spoke from 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4: who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
That right there is what we need to look at. The God of compassion and all comfort.
Our God is a God of great compassion and great comfort. He comforts us in our times of trouble. We must go to him for our comfort, God doesn’t promise us an easy life, but he does promise comfort to those who seek Him in their time of trouble. Don’t miss this in verse 4:”who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” He comforts us in all our troubles…so that we may comfort others in their troubles as God did for us! Having a relationship with God is all about taking the Love and Grace and Compassion he gives us and sharing it with others around us. I have seen so much of this from the ladies in my World Race Squad. We are thousands of miles away from each other, but I can see each lady wrapping their arms and love around these girls who are hurting and going through struggles. This is what God wants for us. To show and share his love.
Verse 8: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a] about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.” This was written by the Apostle Paul. Paul was under such pressure and struggle that he despaired life itself. Again God does not promise us an easy life, not even to His most loyal and nobel followers. I mean this was the Apostle Paul here, he was so down and out that he wanted to end it. We often say that ‘God will not give you more than you can handle.’ That isn’t true. Paul was given more than he could handle ( on his own), so much so that he didn’t want to live anymore, he was done. If God didn’t give us more than we could handle then we would never have a reason to seek Him and find Him for help.
Verse 9: “Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” I love this, after Paul just said that he couldn’t take it anymore he then says, but you know what these bad things, these pains, and struggles happen so that we may rely on God, who raises the dead.” Now if God can raise the dead, shouldn’t we trust that he can heal the hurt of loosing a father, cure cancer, meet our fundraising goals, lead us to the one person in this giant world that needs to know about God’s love and grace? God is a healer!
Verse 11: “as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” Please pray for the ladies and Justin on my World Race Squad. Pray for healing physically, spiritually, and emotionally. These are some of the most Godly women and man I have ever been around and it pains me to see them hurting.
My pastor ended this sermon by bringing out more grocery bags, he started to double, triple, quadruple bag them. He said we can not carry the weights of our hearts and lives by ourselves, we’ve seen that, the bag breaks, we break. But when we double bag it, triple bag it with God and others around us, the bags can withstand any weight placed inside them.
Psalms 103:1-5
Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Who forgives and heals, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your worth is renewed like the eagles’s. God forgives, loves, redeems, and satisfies our souls. He makes us new and wants only good things for us. I ask everyone to pray for all the girls and now guy in my squad. Pray for healing and God’s love to pour down on them.
After this service today I felt renewed, ready to take on the world for God. It is well.
