Maybe you're struggling financially right now, thanks to the toll COVID-19 is taking on the economy.
Maybe your job is extra difficult right now due to all that is happening in the world.
Maybe you're having a hard time getting necessary food for your family, or you can't find necessary items (like eggs or meat or toilet paper) in stores.
Maybe someone close to you just died, and this feels like the worst time, when large gatherings are forbidden, you can't hold a funeral, or maybe you couldn't even be near your loved one in her final hours.
Maybe you are ill, fighting coronavirus, in the hospital or at home.
Maybe you're worried about your loved ones.
Maybe you need a job. You're not sure how you'll pay the bills.
Many who read my blog posts are experiencing infertility. Maybe your heart is aching because you're longing for a baby and God doesn't seem to be answering your prayers. Maybe your fertility treatment has been cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19.
Maybe you're just upset over something that should seem insignificant.
In other parts of the world people have it much worse than I do - such as those in Sudanese refugee camps who are wrestling with not only the trials of living in a refugee camp, but the reality of famine, and the fear of a virus claiming lives around the world.
The list could go on and on and on.
Considering all that is happening in the world today, you might feel like you're suffering in some way. It's likely that you ARE suffering somehow.
Maybe you've got a good life - mostly - and it's just that one little thing that doesn't seem important. The little issue you're battling couldn't be called "suffering," could it?
In the book Suffering is Never for Nothing, Elisabeth Elliott defines suffering as "having what you don't want or wanting what you don't have."
Her definition qualifies most of us as suffering, either right now, or at some time recently.
This spring, while COVID-19 keeps me home with my little family, I occasionally take a walk alone, or have a quiet moment doing housework. Often in those quiet moments I listen to an audiobook, and the book capturing my attention right now is one so good that I listened to it last summer as well. It has impacted me so much that I decided I need a physical copy (and my beautiful hardback copy arrived in the mail as I was writing this post! I love getting books in the mail!)
Suffering is Never for Nothing by Elisabeth Elliot was published after she died, and the book is the text from a talk she gave. Based on her definition of suffering, it's likely that you're suffering right now. Even though I have all that I need at the moment, and I'm "stuck" at home with my husband and toddler in Hawaii where the weather is phenomenal and God paints the sky with rainbows, my life feels far from perfect. Life is not quite what I had envisioned, imagined, or hoped for. I'm far away from family and friends, and I know very few people here. I'm an extrovert struggling with being home all the time during COVID-19. My "creative juice" is not flowing. I know that this time and this experience is not wasted, because I trust the one who works all things out for my good and His glory.
Maybe your job is extra difficult right now due to all that is happening in the world.
Maybe you're having a hard time getting necessary food for your family, or you can't find necessary items (like eggs or meat or toilet paper) in stores.
Maybe someone close to you just died, and this feels like the worst time, when large gatherings are forbidden, you can't hold a funeral, or maybe you couldn't even be near your loved one in her final hours.
Maybe you are ill, fighting coronavirus, in the hospital or at home.
Maybe you're worried about your loved ones.
Maybe you need a job. You're not sure how you'll pay the bills.
Many who read my blog posts are experiencing infertility. Maybe your heart is aching because you're longing for a baby and God doesn't seem to be answering your prayers. Maybe your fertility treatment has been cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19.
Maybe you're just upset over something that should seem insignificant.
In other parts of the world people have it much worse than I do - such as those in Sudanese refugee camps who are wrestling with not only the trials of living in a refugee camp, but the reality of famine, and the fear of a virus claiming lives around the world.
The list could go on and on and on.
Considering all that is happening in the world today, you might feel like you're suffering in some way. It's likely that you ARE suffering somehow.
Maybe you've got a good life - mostly - and it's just that one little thing that doesn't seem important. The little issue you're battling couldn't be called "suffering," could it?
Her definition qualifies most of us as suffering, either right now, or at some time recently.
This spring, while COVID-19 keeps me home with my little family, I occasionally take a walk alone, or have a quiet moment doing housework. Often in those quiet moments I listen to an audiobook, and the book capturing my attention right now is one so good that I listened to it last summer as well. It has impacted me so much that I decided I need a physical copy (and my beautiful hardback copy arrived in the mail as I was writing this post! I love getting books in the mail!)
Suffering is Never for Nothing by Elisabeth Elliot was published after she died, and the book is the text from a talk she gave. Based on her definition of suffering, it's likely that you're suffering right now. Even though I have all that I need at the moment, and I'm "stuck" at home with my husband and toddler in Hawaii where the weather is phenomenal and God paints the sky with rainbows, my life feels far from perfect. Life is not quite what I had envisioned, imagined, or hoped for. I'm far away from family and friends, and I know very few people here. I'm an extrovert struggling with being home all the time during COVID-19. My "creative juice" is not flowing. I know that this time and this experience is not wasted, because I trust the one who works all things out for my good and His glory.
As I listen to this audiobook again, and now read through the paper copy, I am asking God to refine me through the difficulties that I'm personally facing. Elisabeth's words remind me that God refines us in the fire. "Out of the deepest waters and the hottest fires have come the deepest things that I know about God," she writes.
Life is hard for many people right now - it's incredibly difficult for many. Around the world, people are navigating new things, juggling finances, fighting for their health, or struggling in their personal lives. It's a tough time.
As a Christian, I believe that this is a prime time to seek God, to lean closer to Him, to repent and change, to slow down and rest. This time when our world is shaken up is an ideal time to shift our perspective and our lives. It's a painful time for most. Having what we don't want or wanting what we don't had aren't bad things - in fact, Elisabeth Elliot says that qualifies us as suffering. But our suffering is not for nothing, it's not wasted, God is in the midst, so let's seek Him and find Him.
Elisabeth says, "There have been some hard things in my life, of course, as there have been in yours, and I cannot say to you, I know exactly what you’re going through. But I can say that I know the One who knows. And I’ve come to see that it’s through the deepest suffering that God has taught me the deepest lessons. And if we’ll trust Him for it, we can come through to the unshakable assurance that He’s in charge. He has a loving purpose. And He can transform something terrible into something wonderful. Suffering is never for nothing.”
Look for this book on Amazon or Lifeway (and maybe other places too). I highly recommend this book - and no, I don't get any compensation for my recommendation - I'm just recommending something I love!
Leave a comment or share this post with someone who needs this book!
Life is hard for many people right now - it's incredibly difficult for many. Around the world, people are navigating new things, juggling finances, fighting for their health, or struggling in their personal lives. It's a tough time.
As a Christian, I believe that this is a prime time to seek God, to lean closer to Him, to repent and change, to slow down and rest. This time when our world is shaken up is an ideal time to shift our perspective and our lives. It's a painful time for most. Having what we don't want or wanting what we don't had aren't bad things - in fact, Elisabeth Elliot says that qualifies us as suffering. But our suffering is not for nothing, it's not wasted, God is in the midst, so let's seek Him and find Him.
Elisabeth says, "There have been some hard things in my life, of course, as there have been in yours, and I cannot say to you, I know exactly what you’re going through. But I can say that I know the One who knows. And I’ve come to see that it’s through the deepest suffering that God has taught me the deepest lessons. And if we’ll trust Him for it, we can come through to the unshakable assurance that He’s in charge. He has a loving purpose. And He can transform something terrible into something wonderful. Suffering is never for nothing.”
Look for this book on Amazon or Lifeway (and maybe other places too). I highly recommend this book - and no, I don't get any compensation for my recommendation - I'm just recommending something I love!
Leave a comment or share this post with someone who needs this book!
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