Problems are for Solving

This morning I worked out for the first time for over a month. While I was on the treadmill, after figuring out where I was in my podcast playlist (refer back to the over a month part), I listened to one of the newer Rabbit Room podcasts. It’s a fairly new podcast, and this one was episode six, and there were only seven so far (maybe a short-lived podcast?).

My grandmother died last night, the last of my grandparents to do so (my wife still has two grandparents living), and so it marks the end of an era in my family as well as a time of sadness. Curt McLey, in this podcast, reflects on Lewis’ The Problem of Pain and on his own suffering–a great deal of which God brought into his life in a short time.

He aptly reminds us that suffering is a gift. I won’t even try to duplicate the podcast’s wonderful messages here. It is more than worth the 10 minutes of your time it’ll take to listen.

You can download it here.

Preparing for Sudden Suffering :: Desiring God
Reliance

Suffering is a call to trust God not the life-sustaining props of the world.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9 – For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Found this in a friend’s shared items recently and it comes a tad late for me. But it’s still a good reminder even for unprepared, sudden suffering. Too often I rely on my own, fainting, inadequate, useless strength. Piper’s reminder to rely on God is helpful today.

And of course my suffering pales in comparison to what He did for me.