Comfort in Suffering

Cancer is a devastating disease that is raging across America. Now that I have been through cancer, it is difficult to watch the destruction this disease is leaving on the health and emotions of people I know. Before I had cancer I always felt sad when I heard someone was diagnosed with this disease. Now I feel almost sick to my stomach. I know somewhat of the emotional journey they will go through but little of the medical one. I want to help and yet feel so constrained by time.

II Corinthians 1:1-4 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."

During my cancer journey, God poured comfort each and every day into my heart. Now that I am healed, I have such a strong desire to pour that comfort out on others. The busyness of teaching keeps me from having the time I need to make the calls, write the notes of encouragement, help with nutrition, and pray for those who are suffering. I do as much as I can but I want to do so much more. I wonder if Jesus ever felt this way when he saw the needs pressing in around him? There was just never enough of Him to go around. How did he reconcile this in his heart? This is something I will have to discover.

I often think how wonderful it would be not to wake up every day and have to rush out the door to teach. Most afternoons are spent grading papers and preparing for the rest of the week. The energy expenditure is amazing as I deal with 140 different personalities each and every day. Teachers pour out from the time they start their day until the minute it ends. It is a tiring profession! I am trying to figure out how to do my job well without jeopardizing my own health! I know stress plays a huge role in the health of my immune system.

Many, many times this year I have wanted to be ministering to people with cancer or speaking to women's groups instead of teaching. Both of these are my other passions. Until that day comes, I will continue to teach my students how to love other people in their hour of suffering. We will continue to reach out to those we know who need our prayers and comfort. Every day when I enter my classroom and see our beautiful prayer wall, I will remind myself that this job is more than teaching, it is training the next generation how to be burden bearers.

Please pray God will give me the time and energy to help those He brings across my path. I desperately want to get a web site up and running which will contain all the information I have learned about fighting cancer with a lifestyle change, including nutrition. It's just a matter of time.

These are the people I'm trying to help and encourage if you have some time to pray for them. The majority of them are facing cancer:
Norm, Bill, Beth, Cathleen, Terri, Brittany (a 13 year old student of mine with a tumor on her skull), Donna and Rhonda.

I would love to sit and chat some more but I must get dressed and get to school. Thank you for listening to me pour out my heart. Have a wonderful day being loved by the KING!

P.S. Happy Birthday Joni! I love you my dear sweet friend. Thank you for being a part of my life these past 20+ years. You have always been a pillar of strength in my life. I miss you at Christian High!

Perspective

This morning in my devotions I was reading David Jeremiah's book A Bend in the Road. He used this quote from Alan Redpath," As I lift up my eyes to Him, and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing for my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will ever cause me to fret, for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is."

Notice he did not say he would rest in the joy of what the Lord does, but in what He is. The Lord is the very essence of love. What He is and what He does is LOVE. If we take this perspective on everything that happens to us, it will change how we respond to the hard trials in life. Dr. Jeremiah says, "How will you choose to deal with your personal crisis-as an emergency or an opportunity? A stumbling block or a steppingstone? The moment you and I can begin to see things through the heavenly lens, the picture becomes more bearable-and we find new strength."

God is not taken by surprise, He is not alarmed by anything happening in your life and He is not panicking. Your past, present and future are before Him and in his grip all at once.

The greatest challenge we have is to leave our earthly perspective behind and embrace a heavenly one. If we can do this, our sorrow will ease, our pain will subside, and our hope will be renewed. Sit quietly with Him and ask for his peace and perspective to flood your thinking. He is painting the mosaic of your life one stroke at a time. Trust that you are a masterpiece in the making. The pain of trials is just one more color He's adding. They are as necessary as the joys He splashes across the canvas of your life. Each day, ask God to give you His perspective in pain. Don't ask to be taken from His easel before the painting of your life is completed.

"But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
My mouth will tell of Your righteousness,
of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord;
I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone."
Psalm 71:14-16