I esteem that audacity which leads brave men to "crave the fire's embrace," if only through it they might come to know God...(For it is true that a day of hardship imparts more strength to the soul than a month of sunshine.)
But after today, I've had a change of mind as concerns just how men (and women) should pursue the treasure imparted by tears. Once, that is, faith has made them steel enough to do so.
Pray not for pain or hardship.
The world is plenty full of both.
Pray you'll have the heart to suffer with another's.
When their hardship becomes my pain, then God can heal the both of us.
Hmmm! Yes! Amen...May we suffer with another soul so He can heal us together!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. Thanks for sharing.
blessed to share! :)
DeleteMhmm. Not so much to have my own pain, as to make another's pain my own. Ties right in with my thoughts recently. Beautiful!
ReplyDeletereally? Neat. :) That's how He does...
DeleteMm. This is true.. but I know what I need most is greater capacity to love God (i.e. to be closer to Him) - with greater love comes a greater capacity for pain.
ReplyDeleteor is that that greater love is a greater capacity for pain? And since God is love, every drop, shared or received, "increases our capacity to know..."?
DeleteI mean precisely that :) I guess also what I meant is that the ability to self-identify with another's pain is limited because the human capacity for love is limited. But if we have received, and continually receive, God's love, our capacity for both becomes increasingly greater -- as you said.
DeleteSo I could seek to identify with the pain of others - and this is good. But I don't think it is possible if I haven't first identified with the cross.
Those who love God most, agonize for others most.
truth in verity. The cross comes first. Otherwise, all pain would either be either equally self-healing, or equally destructive.
DeleteYes, yes..
DeleteYes, yes. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeletealways welcome sister. :)
DeleteOh, and how much more blessed the healing than if He just did it with a word. Wouldn't trade the experience for anything...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, brother. Needed that today.
ahh, and God does heal with a word. He speaks and His hands and feet move. He simply says: "love one another..."
Delete"Pray you'll have the heart to suffer with another's."
ReplyDelete"When their hardship becomes my pain, then God can heal the both of us."
What a depth in a few words, thanks to God.. I was reminded of: Christ has linked His interest with that of humanity, and He asks us to become one with Him for the saving of humanity. ... When we see human beings in distress, whether through affliction or through sin, we shall never say, This does not concern me. [->Matthew 25:35-40] {DA 504.3}
Mm! Amen...
DeleteIt's the daily life of a mother, suffering with the pain of our children and family, but to step out of our comfort zone, into the risky, scary pain outside, where people are really suffering from the effects of a life full of sin. Do we dare? Is our grasp on God strong enough to go there and enter in? Does their pain hurt us enough to make us do something? Or do we avoid that part of town? Their door of suffering? The woman addicted to meth? The dangerous man she lives with? God is calling is aching for these people. What's to be done?
ReplyDeleteGod risked himself, lowered himself into our pain. He is a solution. There is hope. God is sufficient for all. Lifting up Jesus.
I no longer believe in coincidences. With this being said, I know that it was no coincidence that I stumbled upon this post in particular by accident, bowing before God, praying for recent afflictions. I do believe with every fiber of my being that Jesus' heart breaks with every break of our own. In Isaiah 63:9 it reads: " In all their affliction He was afflicted,
ReplyDeleteAnd the Angel of His Presence saved them;
In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;
And He bore them and carried them
All the days of old."
Meaning He hurts when we hurt, and He personally lifts us up, and carries us through it all.
God Bless, Sean.