Don't Suffer in Vain

I've written a little about this in the past but feel that I need to come back to this topic. So many of us get lost in our suffering and fail to learn or grow through it. Suffering is a part of life and we need to learn how to move forward in spite of it. We need to learn to live through our suffering and not in our suffering.

Romans 8:28 (NLT) says; "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." I've had to stand firmly on this promise in the past.

After my divorce I had no idea that my failures could be used for good. As I look back over the last few years I can see how God has used my failure to bless others. I get opportunities to talk to people and share my failures with them in hopes that they might make better decisions than I did. My wife and I lead a small group to mentor dating and engaged couples. My children have come to know the Lord because, in my brokenness I called on Jesus to save me and now I've raised my children to know Him, too. If my ex-wife had not divorced me I would probably not have given my life to Jesus and I would not be raising my children to know Him. That's 3 lives saved, so far, because of a divorce.

Reread the scripture above - it says that He causes everything to work together for the good. What a great God we serve that He can use even our failures to produce good works! Here's the kicker, though; we have to lean on Him, pick ourselves up, leave our pity party behind, and live our lives. We have to trust Him and be willing to let Him use us and our suffering to work things for the good.

Don't suffer in vain. Trust that the Lord can and will use your suffering to produce something good. You may not be able to see how, but He can. The best person to comfort someone who's lost a child, is someone who's lost a child. The best person to minister to an addict is a recovering addict. We relate more easily to those that know our pain. Let the Lord use you to work for the good and...

...enjoy the ride!

Scott