Watching television is not what it use to be twenty years ago; in fact I told someone it is almost like watching a horror movie. Daily tragic stories plaster the screen and another person has lost their life to a senseless act. I was in a season before where I never watched television and now I have been spirit led once again in front of the screen. The first question I asked was “Father what are you trying to show me?”I often find myself praying for various individuals and other times asking God to have mercy on individuals souls who He shows me are being deceitful. It is one thing to know the LORD but until a person actually feels His very emotion, they have no idea. I have learned and am learning through it all that I will not complain.
Maybe you can relate or know someone who is suffering right now as you are reading this. There may be a mother who has only a few meals left to feed her children with no money in her pocket and contemplating whether to lay on her back just for a few dollars. Someone else body may be in so much pain due to some illness and have no money for their medication. Maybe another woman car was repossessed in the middle of the night and she wakes up only to find she has no way to work. Someone else could have just lost their job and waiting for their unemployment to kick in. Maybe this isn’t you but you know a woman right now that lights got turned off and sits in a cold apartment.
No matter what your personal case may be, we must all learn how to stay in the race of faith. Despite what some may think, even children of God and yes the ones who are living for Him will still run into some challenging times. It seems like when things cannot get worse…BAM another test comes your way. Remember God is not punishing you or I. He will not put more on you than you can bear (and a word to the wise, stop saying you cannot take anymore because He will put more on you to show you exactly how strong He has made you!)
1 Corinthians 10:13 (New International Version)
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Being a child of God doesn’t make us immune to the test and trials. There are plenty of stories in the Bible and many suffered long in order to receive the promises of God. I am not saying we will be happy go lucky all the time but what I am saying is we can not justify the spirit of self pity (another topic for another day).
I believe when we are faced with such challenging obstacles it is not time to complain, complain, complain but instead get in that word, go more before God, get on the phone with a prayer warrior, etc. As children of God it is our responsibility to keep one another uplifted.
Hebrews 3:13 (New International Version)
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
I will leave you with this personal story:
I have watched plenty of people close to me suffer in their health. My grandmother was one and I remember seeing her in the nursing home, laying in the bed contracted, mouth distorted for she had lost most of her speech and as I held her hand, I asked her how was she doing, my grandmother looked at me and said “ I’m doing fine, how you feeling?” Now you must keep in mind, she was so so weak it took her forever to say those few words.
Even though I saw pain in her eyes...even though I heard exhaustion in her voice…even though there was no energy in her frail body, she said the exact same words she had been saying her entire life even when she was in good health. Not once did anyone hear her complain about the situation she was in. Not once did she curse the day she was born. Not once did she compare her situation to the next. She never said she had a right to complain, she never took on that attitude. God brought that back to my remembrance recently when I felt like I had a right to complain. My grandmother was dear to me, she was one of my best friends, and I see why He used that to hit home with me. I have thought about that day in the nursing home often over the course of this past week and that was Feb. 23, 2008 when this event occurred.
I now have made up in my mind that no matter what type of obstacles comes my way, I have no right at all to complain. I never had to hang on the cross at Calvary so I will continue to run the race of faith in hopes of joining my forefathers in the Hall of Faith (Read Hebrews Ch. 11)….how about you?
Sonja Sells
The EGO Expert™ (Empowering God's Originals)
