We have all heard the story of Job in the Bible, where Satan asks God if he can test Job and God's answer was "Do your worst, but don't take his life" because Job's life belonged to God. There will be times in our lives where we literally feel that everything is crumbling around us. We will feel if it weren't for this crazy world we live in, we would be doing just fine. We all have had times in our lives where we have felt lost, like we needed direction. For me it happened in my 20's, I was heading in the wrong direction and reformed my way of living through a mixture of eastern religion and Christianity. But I was yet to have my Job moment in 1999 when I ended up hospitalized, with a lived experience. Yet despite almost dying, I reformed yet again and dropped the eastern religion and returned fully to Christianity. Even though remnants still remain.
Something that transformed my life, was having my story told in a book that is out now through IC Publishing and amazon in Canada, having my story out there is a wonderful thing for me and greatly healing. What I have discovered is, we all have a story. If we have reached adulthood because lets face it, childhood has it's own lessons and struggles, we have a story. Some of our stories are more dramatic and are being added to each day. We will, or should I say Life will be adding to our story untill we die. This doesn't have to be a morbid thought, even though it is. Some human beings are suffering now, and might just suffer right till the end of their lives, but let me say it is the way we suffer that determines if we have peace with ourselves, or peace of mind, and peace with God. I once heard a very wise Pastor say that bad things happen to all people, not just Christians, and it's the way we choose to handle our suffering that really matters.
When we are in pain, the hardest thing to think about is not the pain. We want to be able to carry on with life pain free, but when our pain is chronic and sometimes never ending, we need a sense of security to make us feel we are going to make it to the finishing line. Theodicy has to do with suffering, but more specifically evil. It means in theological language "The Justification of God in the Presence of Evil." Theodicy says that God is just, and is not the cause of evil and suffering, although He allows it. I have tried to apply this doctrine to the problem of suffering, but it is very hard to do. When I am suffering, I become more mindful of God, specifically Jesus. This doesn't ease my pain, but what it does is it brings me back to the things that are not causing me pain so then I can address the pain wisely.
Like Job, he had to process his pain and suffering and we need to do the same. When life is not making sense, and nothing is going right or your way, we need to have presence of mind so we can look at the circumstance. It doesn't matter if it is big or small, in fact something very small might seem like the major source of our pain, in the moment because there are other things in the background that are the root cause of our suffering. When I was in the hospital in 1999, there was a cleaning lady who would come into my room during the day, to clean. She would see me lying on my bed in pain, and she would say to me; "I wish I had a magic wand." Her words eventually helped me accept my diagnoses, and accept the pain that I would experienced for the rest of my life. What she was really saying was,"I see you are in pain and I see you didn't cause this pain. I know you want to be free from your pain and if it was up to me, I would heal you. But because I am not God, he has shown me how to have compassion on you. If I could I would take your pain and set you free! In time you will eventually accept your pain, and your suffering will lesson as a result of this. You will not suffer forever." The part about not suffering forever, I still have a hard time believing but I think if she was here she would say; "You already know what I mean."
I have been on a journey, like you have, and I have seen 'the light'. Suffering in not what anybody wants, and we try to avoid it at all costs. But no matter how old you are, you will eventually suffer. The Buddhist believe aging is suffering, and with that I agree. This is Mike.
Something that transformed my life, was having my story told in a book that is out now through IC Publishing and amazon in Canada, having my story out there is a wonderful thing for me and greatly healing. What I have discovered is, we all have a story. If we have reached adulthood because lets face it, childhood has it's own lessons and struggles, we have a story. Some of our stories are more dramatic and are being added to each day. We will, or should I say Life will be adding to our story untill we die. This doesn't have to be a morbid thought, even though it is. Some human beings are suffering now, and might just suffer right till the end of their lives, but let me say it is the way we suffer that determines if we have peace with ourselves, or peace of mind, and peace with God. I once heard a very wise Pastor say that bad things happen to all people, not just Christians, and it's the way we choose to handle our suffering that really matters.
When we are in pain, the hardest thing to think about is not the pain. We want to be able to carry on with life pain free, but when our pain is chronic and sometimes never ending, we need a sense of security to make us feel we are going to make it to the finishing line. Theodicy has to do with suffering, but more specifically evil. It means in theological language "The Justification of God in the Presence of Evil." Theodicy says that God is just, and is not the cause of evil and suffering, although He allows it. I have tried to apply this doctrine to the problem of suffering, but it is very hard to do. When I am suffering, I become more mindful of God, specifically Jesus. This doesn't ease my pain, but what it does is it brings me back to the things that are not causing me pain so then I can address the pain wisely.
Like Job, he had to process his pain and suffering and we need to do the same. When life is not making sense, and nothing is going right or your way, we need to have presence of mind so we can look at the circumstance. It doesn't matter if it is big or small, in fact something very small might seem like the major source of our pain, in the moment because there are other things in the background that are the root cause of our suffering. When I was in the hospital in 1999, there was a cleaning lady who would come into my room during the day, to clean. She would see me lying on my bed in pain, and she would say to me; "I wish I had a magic wand." Her words eventually helped me accept my diagnoses, and accept the pain that I would experienced for the rest of my life. What she was really saying was,"I see you are in pain and I see you didn't cause this pain. I know you want to be free from your pain and if it was up to me, I would heal you. But because I am not God, he has shown me how to have compassion on you. If I could I would take your pain and set you free! In time you will eventually accept your pain, and your suffering will lesson as a result of this. You will not suffer forever." The part about not suffering forever, I still have a hard time believing but I think if she was here she would say; "You already know what I mean."
I have been on a journey, like you have, and I have seen 'the light'. Suffering in not what anybody wants, and we try to avoid it at all costs. But no matter how old you are, you will eventually suffer. The Buddhist believe aging is suffering, and with that I agree. This is Mike.
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