No only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”  Romans 5:3-5, NIV.

This was the word I was given for our time together last Sunday.  We are still in our time of suffering here; beginning to transition from a deep sense of grief and loss toward whatever it is that God has for us next.  It’s an important time to put our experiences into a larger context; to back up a bit and ask questions about what God might be seeking to do with us, in us, and through us as we move through a difficult time, learning to live without our beloved Michael.

Difficult times are the seedbed for spiritual growth.  Times of ease and comfort rarely result in significant deepening of our relationship with our creator.  It is the hard times that ; that strengthen us for all God would have us do and be. 

In this difficult time I hope you are finding ways to exercise your spirit; and to lead your family and friends toward exercising theirs.  Read your Bible every day.  Turn to those familiar texts that have particular value in sustaining us through difficult times:  Psalm 23, John 14, Romans 8.  Meditate deeply on the meanings. What does it mean that the Lord is our shepherd?  What does that tell us about what we can expect from him?  What does it mean that he leads us beside still waters and into green pastures?  Might that suggest that in difficult times he gives us everything we need, if not everything we want or think we might be able to use?  What does it mean that we need fear no evil, even in the valley of the shadow of death?

Feed and exercise your spirit, so that you might become all that God would have you be; so that together we can build a church that is pleasing to the one whose suffering produced such a harvest of job in the world.

We don’t rejoice in our suffering because we like to suffer.  We rejoice in our suffering because we see how through suffering God helps us learn to endure hard times, and that builds our character and results in hope.  And that kind of hope can get us through anything.

Blessings,

Pastor Deborah