“But it is funny, because after Pat’s sermon I realized how often I prayed for God to change things with (this), or make it stop upsetting me and hurt so much.  He did neither, but He sustained me.  And now, a week after the realization, He made circumstances worse, made them hurt a whole lot more, but His love is still there holding me.  It actually puts a sharper focus on how powerful His mercy is in endurance.  I’m continually reminded of something Piper said in regards to the story of Lazarus in John: It is more loving for God to reveal Christ for who He is and how valuable He is that it is for God to keep us from pain and suffering; even death.  And I know that, and am continually grateful for God’s grace and mercy in sustaining me.”

Things will always suck.  Something will always be going wrong in one way or another.  And occasionally things will get really bad, really bleak, really dark.  And things will hurt.  And things will make me sad.  But God is always a sound foundation.  And He has to be. 

Imagine you are sprawled out on the ground, feeling like death.  And you need to try and stand back up.  Weak knees, weak will.  And you begin to rise, just a bit.  If that foundation under your feet sways even a little, you will end right back on your face.  And you tremble and try to stand more, and stabilize.  And again, you need that foundation to be solid.  Because it takes a long time to stand tall again, but eventually you do have to stand up.

And the worse things get the more clearly we see Christ. The brighter that light shines.  Now anyone who knows me knows that I hate suffering, and that right now sucks.  But at the same time, there is a bright beacon of hope in things.  And it would be stupid and counter-productive to ignore it.  Suffering produces hope (with some steps in the middle).  And God’s love is more pronounced in our appreciation of Christ even more than it is in His keeping us from suffering.