Sufferings

There is a reason for struggles and suffering. They are not put in our lives just to make our life miserable (believe it or not). God places them in our life so that we can grow and learn from them. One thing that Christians forget most of the time (or try not to remember) is that Christ tells us that we are to share in his sufferings. For the longest time I thought that it meant that we were had to suffer a painful death to share in His sufferings. But that’s not true at all. The way one person suffers or struggles is completely different than the way someone else will suffer or struggle. It doesn’t mean that our suffering is going to be extremely painful but it does mean that our suffering is going to be difficult. Difficult for you may be different than what is difficult for me. And a struggle today may not even be considered a struggle tomorrow. But the point is that we are put through these situations so that we can grow and in our growth bringing glory to God.
These past few weeks I have been going through some things that are a struggle for me and one day I feel as if I can’t handle it anymore and the next day it doesn’t even faze me. This is something I was not even considering would be difficult for me here. But in being here during this situation has helped me so much. If I was going through this back home it would be so easy for me to avoid and just not deal with it, but being in Africa it has forced me to come face to face with this struggle. But good has come out of my struggle. The power of prayer has become more relevant to me. I have always known that God answers prayers but never really focused on how much that is true. Each time I pray about this situation I can literally see it getting better and much easier to deal with.