Thoughts on suffering

Our blog has been quiet but our life has not! As you've likely heard, Katie was diagnosed with MS. Needless to say we've been very occupied! These last few days have felt closer to normal than the rest of the last month combined.

I feel my heart stabilizing a bit in these last few days, probably in thanks to your prayers.  As this has happened, I've had a little more room to think about all these things philosophically.  I've been thinking about the whole topic of suffering, specifically for us, and in general.  (If you're brain doesn't work in this way, just hang on with me to the end :)

Suffering is a weird thing.  Everyone undergoes it to greater and lesser degrees throughout their lives. When I see the continued outpouring of love and support each day that we receive, it brings paradoxical feelings.  I can almost feel guilty, thinking about many people in this world undergoing suffering much more intense than what we're facing (easy for me to say, not being the one experiencing the physical symptoms :).  At the same time, without all this love and support from you and help from the Lord, I have no idea how we could have survived the last month.  What a strange thing suffering is!  In the past month, life has become totally different, yet it is still the same- we are still the same people.  The future is quite uncertain, yet it is quite hopeful.  What a mishmash of thoughts and feelings!

Two or three years back we were teaching students from the book of Philippians and I came across this verse:

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake...   -Philippians 1:29 ESV

This verse has been on my mind a lot.  Looking at the passage in context, Paul is clearly talking about suffering brought on by persecution for the sake of Christ- but I believe that this passage is also true in a broader sense:

Here's my paraphrase of Paul:
God has given you a gift, an obvious one we often remember:  faith in Christ!  But He's given you another of similar importance, one that we often forget:  that you would suffer for His sake!

So faith and suffering are gifts?  Would I describe this current season in that way?

I need to chew on that some more.  But I do know this:  I've never felt more loved and cared for by the body of Christ than I do now; and I'm more confident than ever in God's goodness and faithfulness and presence.  (I hesitate to write this because I know I'm not above calling these into question.  This may happen at some point.  But this is where I'm at right now.)

With our trials has come an incredible outpouring of love and grace.  My heart resonates with this hymn by Annie Johnson Flint, a woman who suffered severe physical ailments most of her life.

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half-done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men,
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.

For more good thoughts on suffering, take a listen to this.

Thank you for being the hands and feet and heart of Jesus to us!

-Noah

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