What ought one to say then as each hardship comes? I was practicing for this, I was training for this?- - Epictitus
Be careful to not pass swift judgment on someone. They may be reacting to a difficult situation. We never know what tomorrow may bring nor our responses. If I am faced with a hardship, I hope I would have the strength to call on God and trust His response.
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So true. We just never know what someone is going through. And what we might go through tomorrow. Good post.
ReplyDeleteRochelle - Our response to hardship is unpredictable because we don't try to rehearse trials.
ReplyDeleteI love this post and your response to Rochelles comment. Sometimes we rise, sometimes we fall. We think falling is the easier of the 2 but actually its harder. Because its the 1 that actually requires the most work after. You said it perfefct when you wrote "we dont try to rehearse trials". thanks for this. It encouraged me.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of what happen to us just recently. Bill had fallen and seen a chiropractor who scheduled him for three visits this week. Then a call from his office canceled two of them, saying he was working only two half-days this week and that he would explain when Bill went in. Bill was (is) still in pain. When we got to the office, a new schedule announced four half-days as the work week. Dr. D. explained that his doctor had discovered that he has cancer, found early but he needs time for treatments. He is confident of recovery. Please pray for Dr. D., who said, "We'll get through this and get your back fixed as well."
ReplyDeleteHi! I floated over from Rochelle's blog. I have to ask how you pronounce your name. My name is spelled like yours but is pronounced Jay-nu. It is so rare that I find someone with my name.
ReplyDeleteCarissa - Life can be tough. Sometimes we get a curve ball and strike out, but there is another inning in which to redeem ourselves.
ReplyDeleteHelen - I am sorry to hear about Dr. D. (and Bill, too). I hope Bill's pain is lightening and I pray Dr. D. will have successful treatment. We don't choose pain and disease but it happens. God can heal.
Jana - welcome to my blog. I'm sure you don't have people pronounce your name correctly when reading it. LOL My name is simply pronounced, "Jan - nuh." I snuck over to your blog and read you will soon be moving to N.C. Although I am in California, one of my very best friends is in Charlotte, N.C. God bless you as you work for Him.
Yes, I guess we really don't rehearse for trials. Even though they are a part of life, we don't like to think about them coming into our lives. However, when they do come, I pray that I can react in a way that's pleasing to God, more like Job did. I also don't want to react to other people's trial the way Job's friends did to his. We don't really know why God allows people to go through certain things, and when someone is going through a trial what they really need is to have their faith built that God is still good and will bring them through safely to the other side.
ReplyDeleteHow easy it is to pass judgment on someone, Yet you never really know what the person next to you may be going through. I recently took a stress management class at my workplace, and we played a game called Stress Bingo. Each square had a stressful event listed, and we had to place Hershey's kisses over the squares that listed stress events that we had experienced in the last 2 years. Then we broke into groups and talked about those stress events. In our group, I found out that everyone had recently experienced severe illness of a family member. We shared our situations and gained a better understanding of one another as well as compassion. Good Post!
ReplyDeleteCarol - if we stay close to God, I believe we will react properly in adverse times. The key is to be close to God with sincerity.
ReplyDeleteKaren - the exercise in the stress management sounds like it was a good idea. That might be a good thing for church staff to do on a quarterly basis.