Positively Good Productions
Sowinig blessings and life lessons to encourage, refresh, and benefit our lives.
Why must there be disease and death?
Why must the innocent suffer?
Why are the innocent victimized?
Why must there be heartache and disappointment?
Why do the wicked prosper, while the righteous take such
a beating?
How are we to respond to suffering?
What do we do, and how do we respond when suffering
strikes our family?
Is there any way we can "Learn" what to do about
suffering?
How can we help those who are suffering?
Is there purpose in pain?
Is there any escape?
Where is God in all of this suffering?
Will there ever be a way out of this confusion?
Where and when can we see the fulfillment of our heart's
desire?
Are we doomed to just suffer, and live as "Sufferers?"
These are questions that countless individuals have
wrestled with... and tried to figure out.
Troubles, trials, and tragedies have touched us all, and no
one is immune from the pressures of life or suffering.
Our suffering in life can be a potent jolt in making us
more discerning and progressive. Suffering can be part of
the ways of God's working with us for our own
development and to bring us to a knowledge of Himself.
God uses even the most painful
suffering for good.
One might ask...
How can a just God allow such things to happen? How it
is that God, who loves us so much, should allow suffering
to come into our homes?
As it goes... sadness is a part of our journey.
Sometimes we feel completely alone when we are
suffering. We feel helpless and useless. When we need
God, the most, sometimes we feel that God is not there.
We may feel at times as if God is unfair and harsh, but He
is a God of Love who permits things in our life that are
temporarily very painful so that His eternal purposes may
be worked out.
Let us always remember and never forget:
The Cross precedes the
Crown.
When we look back on life, often, our trials and
tribulations come most easily to our memory.
Those times when everything moved along easily
tend to fade into relative insignificance.
Our education is never completed. It is necessary for us to
prepare for what life has to teach us by being open to the
lessons in everything we do and experience. Some of the
hard, disappointing, painful, and difficult experiences I
have gone through... have become extremely important
and valuable life lessons and character building I would
not have learned any other way.
These meaningful and worthwhile experiences,
although painful, have and are richly educating and
enriching my life. They have proven to be extremely
useful and relatable to anyone who needs to change their
direction while they can, a reminder of what is important
in life, Who we should put our trust in, and Who we can
always depend on.
We believe some of the richest, fullest, and most fruitful
lives are those lives that have been in the crucible of
testing and tribulation.
When human support or material help of any kind is
removed, that is when God's power can become operative.
We believe the entire universe is God's garden, and God
desires for His garden to grow, mature, and produce.
We believe the Master Gardener, cuts off every branch in
us, whether the branch is a person, place, or thing,
that bears no fruit... or stagnates our growth in Him.
No one on this earth is immune from all of the different
kinds of pain and suffering that can come our way in this
life. At times, a certain amount of pain and suffering
is what God will use to help shape, mold, and transform
us.
Each of us has, more than likely, had a loved one die,
been the victim of a crime, lived among or been exposed
to the poverty-stricken, or in some way been confronted
with the reality of suffering.
We all have stories of suffering, and these encounters
come in many different forms... affecting countless people
in numerous ways.
Think about it:
There are sudden accidents, disabilities, natural disasters,
life-threatening hardships... like a terminal illness, a
marriage could be failing, a child could have broken a
parent's heart or vice versa, one could have just lost their
job and now find themselves in a financial disaster...
barely making it, one could be frightened, lonely,
misunderstood, or depressed.
God allows us to suffer for various reasons.
Sometimes it takes difficulties, hardships, pain, loss,
tragedies, accidents, family or health issues
to get our attention.
Sometimes God allows these things to enter a life in order
for one to detach from all else...
and look to Him.
Sometimes God puts us on our backs...
so there's nowhere else to look,
except up.
Tragedies, sorrows, and sufferings can be blessings in
disguise.
As painful as many of the hard knocks have been... many
of the painful situations I have gone through have been
great groomers and pruners.
Whether we are innocent victims or we bear partial
responsibility, we still naturally wonder... "Why is life so
difficult?"
Even when suffering comes to those who are innocent,
there may be the possibility
of greater good within that suffering.
We need a pure heart to see the hand
of God, to feel the hand of God, to
recognize the gift of God in our
suffering.
Innocent suffering
is the same as the suffering of Jesus.
God knows exactly where we are in
life. He knows, sees, cares, and
controls all.
What right have we, as Believers, to expect that we will
be exempt from trials and tribulations?
Jesus endured the cross.
The more fruitful our lives... the more
God will cultivate us.
For the Believer, there is nothing strange about
suffering.
May we endure whatever it is we are facing, and
"Rejoice inasmuch as we participate
in the sufferings of Christ, so that we
may be overjoyed... when His glory is
revealed."
God will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous
blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of
despair. In their righteousness, they will be called great
oaks that God has planted for His own Glory.
Isaiah 61:3
We must face the undeniable fact that Believers do suffer.
According to many verses in the New Testament,
Believers will suffer in this world...
that's a fact of life.
Suffering can be very painful. To suffer is to be
challenged on many levels. Whether the suffering is
physical, spiritual, emotional, or psychological... the
purpose of our suffering should be
seen as...
an opportunity for our growth.
No matter what we may be facing in life,
God promises to use all things for good.
According to Scripture...
testing, trial, suffering, and chastening are God's way of
purifying, cleansing, and conforming us to the image of
His Son, Jesus.
When insulted for the Name of Christ... we can consider
ourselves blessed. Those who live a godly life in Christ
will be persecuted... so don’t think it’s strange and it’s
unique to you alone.
What then does it mean to
“Share in His sufferings”?
To share in Jesus' suffering refers to suffering persecution,
opposition, and hardship.
Jesus didn’t remain in the grave. He triumphed over sin
and death. Jesus humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to death – even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and
gave Him the Name that is above every name, that at the
Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(Philippians 2:8-11)
Since God was able to bring about such a glorious
outcome from Jesus’ suffering, we should trust God to
take care of us.
carolecgood@aol.com
www.carolecgood.com
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Awesome!! We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we can't. Whatever your cross, whatever your pain, there will always be sunshine, after the rain.... Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall; But God's always ready, to answer your call.... He knows every heartache, sees every tear, a word from His lips, can calm every fear... Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night, But suddenly vanish, dawn's early light... The Savior is waiting, somewhere above, to give you His grace, and send you His love... |
Awesome!! We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we can't. Whatever your cross, whatever your pain, there will always be sunshine, after the rain.... Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall; But God's always ready, to answer your call.... He knows every heartache, sees every tear, a word from His lips, can calm every fear... Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night, But suddenly vanish, dawn's early light... The Savior is waiting, somewhere above, to give you His grace, and send you His love... |
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