It's actually pretty easy to make excuses about why I haven't been keeping up in reading the Bible and being a better light to the world. My number one excuse revolves around the suffering that I face each day with Chiari. However, God doesn't accept that excuse. Jesus came to earth, was emotionally and physically tortured and tempted, and yet he still managed to fulfill God's purpose for his life. I live in a pretty nice neighborhood and have a job that allows me to never go cold or hungry. Small potatoes to what God did for us, so I really have no reason to complain.
Consequently, the book of John, Chapter 9 says that we suffer so that the glory of God can be manifested in the world. To a non-Christian, that sounds absolutely horrible that God would cause suffering to begin with. To take the short explanation, it's not God that causes the suffering, it's satan. There's a whole other discussion on why suffering is allowed, but that's not really important right now.
I spent time this past week at a seminar given by a man named John Clayton. He talked about a lot of different things, but the one thing he touched on at the end of class this morning was that our suffering can become a positive thing. I want to be able to let the Lord's light shine through my life by being a shoulder to lean on to people that live with chronic pain like I do. Being able to lend a caring ear is just one of the ways that I can help. I realize that there are things that I need to do to prepare for this, but if I need to have a goal in life, being caring, understanding, and a great example of God's love is a perfect place to start.
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