<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This December I am turning 36 years old\u2014I\u2019m no longer a young adult,\nnor am I yet seasoned with the stripes of grey hair that I suspect are creeping\nright around the corner. While I\u2019ve lived a very blessed life so far, it hasn\u2019t\nbeen all smooth sailing\u2014though compared to what some people have experienced in\ntheir lives it has been. As we approach another Thanksgiving Day, I\u2019ve been\nreflecting a bit lately on what I\u2019ve seen God doing in my life these past few\nyears, and one of the big things, is teaching me to be thankful in difficult\ntimes. While this process isn\u2019t always a pleasant one, I\u2019ve been learning it is\nlike sandpaper for my soul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyone who knows me thinks I\u2019m borderline obsessed with C. S. Lewis\u2014After\nall, I did name my first-born son after him. OK I am obsessed. Whatever. So be\nit. When speaking on pain and suffering, Lewis once said something that forever\nstuck with me. Something I\u2019ve been learning through experience these past few\nyears. Lewis wrote: \u201cGod whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our\nconscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.\u201d\nLewis realized that pain and suffering have a unique way of waking us from our\nspiritual stupor. How? They have a unique capability of revealing where the\nidols of our heart truly lie. If idolatry is loving something more than God,\nand it is\u2014our idols are quickly revealed when something threatens to take them\nfrom us. So quickly we attach our life\u2019s meaning and value to things: whether\nit be good health, wealth, family, or career\u2014and when something comes along and\nupsets the applecart, there begins a rumble of panic deep within our soul.\nWhat\u2019s the remedy for the rumble? Thankfulness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the thing that gives our lives meaning and happiness is threatened\nor taken from us, we have two choices: bitterness or joy. For the follower of\nJesus, we are called to be joyous and thankful while suffering. Why? Because we\nare called to love God for who He is and not for simply what He gives us. Like\nhard steel forged by fire, so too is our faith forged through the fires of\nadversity. When hard times come, and they surely will, we must speak the\npromises of God to ourselves that our heads remember but our hearts so quickly\nforget. We must remember the hope we have, which is so great that it makes our\npresent suffering, which is by no means insignificant, look like nothing at all.\nThe result is a joy that can\u2019t be taken from you. A joy that isn\u2019t dependent on\nthe fragile things of this world that could never satisfy anyways, but upon the\nsure promises and faithfulness of a God who saves out of an abundance of His\ngrace. This process, as I am only just beginning to learn, is sandpaper for the\nrough edges of my soul. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This December I am turning 36 years old\u2014I\u2019m no longer a young adult, nor am I yet seasoned with the stripes of grey hair that I suspect are creeping right around the corner. While I\u2019ve lived a very blessed life so far, it hasn\u2019t been all smooth sailing\u2014though compared to what some people have experienced…
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