Really? Yes! Absolutely!
Is suffering a joy? No! But …
Hercilia Jimenez-Escobar sent me some words that perked me up: God’s blessings are dispensed according to the riches of his grace, not according to the depth of our faith.
Wow! God’s grace supersedes our faith. Look at this week’s image! The sunset above the Hermitage of St. Francis in Cortona is greater.
“13 if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13).
Right now, I’m not a happy camper (and everyone knows, neither is President Trump). It’s a miracle I’m alive. Had the 83-year-old lady struck me while riding my bicycle a tenth of a second sooner, I would have been dead meat, hamburger. So, I shouldn’t complain. But now I’m facing my ninth procedure, implanting a Spinal Cord Stimulator to mitigate the pain caused by broken nerves.
And then I came across ‘JOY … Despite Trials and Suffering,’ an impromptu talk by Saint Pope John Paul II, when he addressed the youth in Arezzo, Italy, on 23 March 1993. To the question: “You ask yourselves if joy is possible despite so many trials and sufferings,” John Paul II looked into the eyes of his audience and said:
“Look up … come to know God personally – not in the abstract but for real: face to face, person to person …“
Yes! Absolutely! Indeed! God’s love is eternal. God’s grace is unconditional.
If God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, resides in your heart, where is the spiritual Kingdom of God? Shouldn’t God’s Kingdom envelope your entire being by entering into your heart as well?
Who wouldn’t want to be caged inside God’s infinite love and wisdom?
Life is not the destination. It is a journey with God.
That’s heaven on earth, the rebirth or ‘born again’ triumph (Chapter 1: A Divine Surprise; Sub-chapter 1.2: Christians are Newly Anointed Appointed Jews?; Page 31; Kindle Locations 474-478).
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will (Romans 12: 2).
Read more: ‘JOY … Despite Trials and Suffering.’
With Every Good Wish to You, I am,
Sincerely,
Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague
Abraham A. van Kempen
Senior Editor
*‘Christian Zionism … Enraptured Around a Golden Cal” (2nd Edition)
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Giving your son a skill is better than giving him one thousand pieces of gold.