It's hard to believe that God loves you when you're suffering, especially if you have had more than your fair share of difficulties in life.
Although some of our suffering is our own fault, much of it isn't, and there seems to be no justice in the way suffering is handed out. Sometimes wealth and health are poured out to the vain and selfish, while poverty and sickness are the plight of many who are more noble.
Where is God's love in all of this? It's with us, always.
I believe that human beings are being called by God to be more amazing creatures than we can currently imagine. God is calling us to become his children, to live in perfect freedom as our very best selves, forever.
We have a long way to go to learn to live in that freedom, but the goal is worth any effort.
How do we get there? Not by living lives that are always easy, always fair, or always comfortable.
Anyone can be patient and kind when everything is going his way. The test -- and the time of growth -- is when things aren't going well. Patience displayed in the face of suffering is an altogether different quality than patience displayed when we're at our ease.
If we can't be patient when things are difficult, then we are not free to be patient.
We are still under the control of our circumstances. God wants us to be free to control our own actions, and we aren't yet. There's work to be done
Similarly, the measure of a loving person is not how well he loves his friends, but how well he loves those who mistreat him. By that, I don't mean encouraging the bad behavior, but rather not responding in kind. That's being free to love.
This is God's goal for us: that we would be free to choose how we act, rather than just responding to our circumstances.
He wants us to be able to choose the good in every situation. (We can always choose to do wrong. That's the easy choice, the downhill choice. It's choosing the good that takes effort.)
Our suffering has a purpose. It's there to help us take the next step in our journey to freedom.
It is a difficult journey, but the goal is worth any effort. And if we open our hearts to him, we'll discover that God's love is with us every step of the way.
Read on . . .