For the Joy: Chapter 3

 

FOR THE JOY

 

CHAPTER 3

Suffering

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through SUFFERINGS. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren;

Hebrews 2:10

A few years ago on Christmas day, after the morning’s excitement, we packed our bags and headed to Nana’s to continue the festivities. Before leaving town, we stopped at QT for gas and coffee. It was busier than I expected for Christmas day. Bopping cheerfully into QT with a from people from my entourage, I noticed a woman that I knew. I kind of knew her, we had mutual Facebook friends from church but had never met in person. She and her daughter were joyfully giggling by the coffee counter on Christmas day. I felt compelled to introduce myself.

“Are you Stephanie?” I asked, cutting into her path to the register.

“Well, yes, yes I am!” She responded with enthusiastic sweetness. She looked tiny and adorable with her curly red hair and Christmas leggings. Meanwhile I looked like a can of busted biscuits because that’s what I always look like by the time Christmas gets here.

“I’m Becca, we’re friends on Facebook!” I said and reached out to shake her hand. “Our kids are in youth group together. I just wanted to introduce myself in person.”

“Oh, how nice to meet you! That’s wonderful! How wonderful!” she said with sincerity. She seemed genuinely happy to meet me, this stranger that accosted her in QT on Christmas morning like she was some kind of celebrity.

I bid her and her beautiful daughter a Merry Christmas and moved to collect my own Christmas coffee. I was awe-struck. I knew a little about Stephanie’s life from Facebook. She had Lupus. She had three children with autism. Her husband was out of work from a simple surgical procedure gone wrong. The barrage of suffering in this family seemed to be endless.

For years after we met, Stephanie continued to post beautiful snapshots of her life as she fought the good fight with cancer. Presently she is living her life through a four-hour window, because that’s her maximum energy capacity in a day.

This woman knows suffering on a level that I cannot even begin to wrap my mind around. This husband and these children know suffering on a level that I may never be able to comprehend. But my faith swells with hers every time she posts another smiling picture from the chemo chair, thanking God for the people that love her. Because at the end of the day, she knows what is hers to hold, and when you have Jesus, you have hope, no matter what else is going on.

Faith reminds us that Jesus is in step with us through difficult days. He is our partner in affliction. This is a slippery slope for the soul that holds faith loosely.

I’ve suffered heavy hits, but in the darkness, I learned to cling to Jesus. I felt alone in my pain, except for His silent presence. He knew every detail and already occupied my suffering. I rested in Him when I couldn’t eat, sleep, or even breathe normally. He held me. He steadied my heart.

I don’t understand the reason there has to be suffering, but I do know this. Jesus was perfected and learned obedience through suffering. If the Creator God had to endure suffering, I would be sorry to assume that I shouldn’t have to endure it also.

In this life there will be suffering. He lived the life of a man and experienced suffering in waves. He felt it in His physical body. He knows what a racing heart, a sleepless night, a punch in the guts feels like. If you belong to Jesus, He is with you in your affliction, closer than your next breath. You only need to turn to Him. If you do not belong to Jesus, maybe He’s calling you.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me, Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Ps 23:4