In this world we will suffer...

I started this post a while ago but it just "didn't feel right"; it wasn't finished.  Then my good friend Shelly from Just Trying to find My Way who has been tag teaming this "Speaking Truth" project with me wrote about life being hard (it's a great post, you can find it here).  I was reading and rereading her post before it hit me that we had used the exact same verses.  I knew then, that it was time to finish this post.

In these past few weeks there have been many heart breaking requests for prayer. Tragedy. Abuse. Suicide. Broken down relationships. Sickness. Grief. Suffering.  John 16:33 says in this world we will have trouble, trials and tribulations, sorrow, affliction, oppression, suffering...  And it's so easy to get stuck here, in the suffering with the weight of the world on our shoulders. But John 16:33 goes on to say "But take heart / But take courage / But be of good cheer / But be courageous / But have confidence, I {Jesus} have overcome the world!"

There are some important things we should know about suffering. Like it won't last forever.

"He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death,

nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that is gone forever."

Revelation 21:4

"After you have suffered a little while, our God, who is full of kindness through

Christ, will give you his eternal glory. He personally will come pick you up, 

and set you firmly in place, and make you stronger than ever."

1 Peter 5:10

God uses our suffering to correct us, mold us and to shape our character. He uses suffering to teach us endurance and strengthen our faith. He even uses pain to draw others to Himself.

"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that

they are good for us - they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops

strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we us it 

until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady."

Romans 5:3-4

"Dear brothers and sisters, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? 

Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow.

So let it grow, and don't try to squirm out of your problems. For when

your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything,

strong in character, full and complete."

James 1:2-4

Sometimes we make bad choices and our suffering is a result of not following God's will and sometimes we're blindsided. Like when we were asked to go to our doctor's office following a routine ultrasound and being told we would miscarry our baby. Or when our youngest came five weeks early and was sent to a hospital with a NICU an hour away before I even got to touch her. For me those things caused immense suffering and pain, yet the lessons I've learned and the joy that God has brought out of them has been far greater. 

In this life we will suffer, but there is hope because our Savior has overcome the world!

A few weeks ago I was praying for a family member who unexpectedly and tragically lost her brother and this song came on.  The words have haunted me since and I think it speaks so truly to the hope we have in Jesus.   

Come out of sadness

From wherever you've been

Come broken hearted

Let rescue being 

Come find your mercy

Oh sinner come kneel

Earth has no sorrow 

That heaven can't heal

So lay down your burdens

Lay down your shame

All who are broken

Lift up your face

Oh wanderer come home

You're not too far

Lay down your hurt

Lay down your heart

Come as you are

There's hope for the hopeless

And all those who've strayed

Come sit at the table

Come taste the grace

There's rest for the weary

Rest that endures

Earth has no sorrow

That heaven can't heal

Come as you are

Fall in His arms

Come as you are

There's joy for the morning

Oh sinner be still

Earth has no sorrow

That heaven can't heal

Come As You Are by Crowder

Mama moments...

 About a year ago I was sitting on my living room floor with two wonderful ladies from a program called Help Me Grow.  I don't remember how exactly we got hooked up with them but it was at a time we were baffled by our youngest Amelia.  Around six months she stopped sitting.  I mean the girl who could previously sit would not longer sit in a high chair, on the floor, on your lap...it seemed to cause her extreme pain. She also started struggling with eating and sleeping and it was obvious she was regressing.  We saw our primary doctor who sent us for x-rays and refereed us to a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon.  We worked with a chiropractor and a homeopath and somehow along the way I ended up with a case worker and a physical therapist in my living room.

They did a thorough evaluation of Amelia but the funny thing was as quickly as she "lost" everything, it came back.  They determined that she did not qualify for their program where a physical therapist would have come to our house and worked with Amelia.  As they sat there that day explaining everything to me they asked if I had any questions.  Amelia really did appear to be "back to normal" but I did have questions.  I decided to express my concerns about Lorelei and see what they thought.  See Lorelei was almost 2 and she was smart and a great communicator, she just didn't use many words.  They determined that Lorelei should be evaluated for speech therapy and low and behold she did qualify. They called it an "immature mouth" where she didn't know how to physically move her mouth and tongue to form the sounds she needed.  At the beginning of the school year a speech therapist started coming to our house once a week to work with Lorelei and we noticed improvement almost immediately.

Today I sat on my living room floor with two wonderful ladies from a program called Help Me Grow. Lorelei will be turning 3 in a few weeks and it was time to have her reevaluated to see if she continued to qualify for speech therapy services.  They compared the two evaluations and showed how one year ago Lorelei had 12-15 words she used and could be understood, now she uses sentences with up to six words.  In fact her scores are now above average. She's doing very well and no, she no longer qualifies for speech therapy.

Watching her speech develop at such a quick rate has been incredible, but seeing her come out of her shell and the confidence she has gained has been amazing.  So today I am just in awe of our Lorelei and I'm so thankful that God has entrusted us in raising her. We think she's pretty incredible.

Thank you, Lord, for turning my hard mama moments into proud mama moments.