Better Together

Why Does God Allow Suffering? | Better Together Episode 1147

March 3, 2026 | S8 E1147 | 51:1

Why do bad things happen to good people? Suffering raises hard questions about God and our faith. Discover what can happen when a good God meets the world's suffering and how He turns around even the deepest pain for our good. | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000

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Better Together | Why Does God Allow Suffering? | Better Together Episode 1147 | March 3, 2026

The most frequently asked question we receive is why do
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Bad things happen to good people?
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Today, we're talking about how to walk through life's darkest
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Valleys and rest in the arms of god and his grace.
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Come on, join us.
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♪♪
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We're talking about some of the questions that are coming in.
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And one of them, uh, this is a big one.
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A lot of people ask it. i think we all ask it.
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But why does god allow suffering?
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Um, i think i've had more suffering than than not.
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Um, and i've had a lot of therapy to work through a lot
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Of those things.
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I just remember when-- my kids are 20 and 17 now, but my
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Youngest, when he was born, he came out perfect.
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He was beautiful.
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And my oldest chance was an emergency c-section,
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Um, after, you know, 40, 40 hours of labor.
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That's crazy.
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Crazy. and i had to, like, prove something to you, right?
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I wanted to be like, let's go as natural as possible.
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Um, that wasn't a good idea. sure.
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I know. i'm like 5'1.
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And, um, this baby was giant.
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And so, uh, when paxton, my younger, came along, they were
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Monitoring and they just said, hey, he's actually, you know,
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Measuring to be bigger.
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And i was like, man, just open that zipper.
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Let's go.
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And so he was born and he had all ten fingers.
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All ten toes. just so sweet.
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I've been a mom already for three years at this point, and
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He's beautiful.
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We take him home, and within a month, it wasn't colic.
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It was this cry from a baby every time,
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Like after he ate, between eating and between, like, you
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Know, getting rid of it in his diaper, he would cry this
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Blood curdling scream.
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And as a mama, you're just thinking he can't tell me
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What's wrong.
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And he is hurting.
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And some of my backstory is also, i was told i was
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Infertile, which is a nasty word.
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And so these babies that i had were just so precious.
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Like, i, i would have done anything for them.
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And he would scream and scream.
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And this went on for months.
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And we went to the doctor.
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And the doctor tested in every way possible.
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Couldn't find anything.
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And when the doctor can't-- many doctors can't find out why,
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What's wrong with your child,
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You start to lose hope.
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And there's one thing for you to suffer and go, okay, i
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Myself can handle some things, but to see someone you love so
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Much that you would give the world to suffering
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And not having language-- the worst.
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Right. -- to explain it.
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And i remember asking this question like, god, why are you
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Letting this happen?
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This baby has done nothing.
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Why are you letting paxton suffer?
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Can you please just tell me what's going on?
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Yeah. um, and there was a lot of things going on in his
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Little system, you know. for me too,
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I thought, what did i do wrong?
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What did i mess up during pregnancy?
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The sense of shame and guilt and trying to make
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Everything right, you know.
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And we found out he was
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Basically allergic to everything.
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Oh, wow.
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So everything coming through breast milk, even even formula.
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He's allergic to everything out there.
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All the way to, like, iron.
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You know, things that you need in your body.
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So we had to address those things.
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We had to find ways to heal different parts of his body.
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Fortunately, babies, toddlers,
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They heal much faster than adults.
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So we we got there.
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But, you know, asking that question of why do bad things
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Happen to good people?
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Your story tells that as well,
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Brittany, of-- you know, and the truth of that is, i think
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This is a fair question.
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This is-- there's no shame.
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If you wrote this question in and you asked about it, like,
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This is a fair, fair question.
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I think if you feel desperate today, you might feel like
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Hope will never come.
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Like i'm at the end of my rope.
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I don't see any way out.
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I'm suffering, i'm struggling,
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I want to tell you about jesus.
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Jesus is here for you.
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God is for you.
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God is with you.
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He'll never leave you.
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He'll never forsake you.
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So in your suffering, that is when we find the most
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Treasured gifts from god.
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We find that he does comfort us, that he is a mender of the
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Brokenhearted, that he has every provision there for us,
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That he is the provider of our satisfaction of our life.
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He's the joy that strengthens us.
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He's the peace that passes all understanding.
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He's everything. everything that we need, we find in god.
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So if you're struggling today, if you're suffering today, lean
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Into god and say, god, i am not leaving this place until i get
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Everything from you that i'm here for.
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So my question to all of you is, you know, you've all, i
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Know your stories.
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We've all had some pain and suffering in our lives.
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And what is it that you would say, or how would you address
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It in your own life
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Of how, how, one, does god allow suffering
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Is your answer to that?
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And then two, what do you do with that answer?
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Yeah, i think it's one of the most, from the very beginning,
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The question has been, lord, why?
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Yeah, because we struggle with two things that are
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True at the same time.
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God is all powerful, which means he could do anything, and
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God is love, which would mean he would want to.
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And i remember having a one of the most honest conversations
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I've ever had with a woman. she had stayed behind.
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I had been speaking at a conference, and she had waited
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Kind of in the back row until everyone had gone.
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So i said to her, hey, do you want to chat?
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And she said, yeah, i would like to.
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And i sat down and she said, i liked what you said on
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The platform, but it can't all be true.
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And i was like, okay, then talk to me about it.
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What do you mean?
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And she said, well, you talked about how magnificent and
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Mighty god is, that he speaks a word and it happens.
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And then you also talked about the fact that he is love, not
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That he just can be loving, but he is the very essence of love.
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So why have i buried two children?
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And when somebody sits with that in that kind of level of
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Pain, there's i mean, you don't pull a scripture out and try
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And paste it to their wound.
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It's like you sit with them in that, you know, and we both sat
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And wept for a while because honestly, i didn't have a lot
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To say other than, um, praying for her that she would be able
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To bring all of that to god.
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All of those questions, all of that pain, all of that anger,
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And knowing that further down the line that she'd see
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The goodness of god.
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But when you're in it at that moment-- you know, i think
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People think because romans 8:28 says, and we know that all
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Things work together for good to those who love the lord and
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Are called according to his purpose,
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That it should feel good, and it doesn't a lot of the time.
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And god doesn't say it is good.
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All he's promised is he will bring good from that.
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But i think to give people permission to sit in what makes
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No sense and to hold those
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Questions. um, at the end of it,
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I mean, we actually ended up leaving and going to a coffee
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Shop and sit and talk for a while and, and ended up praying
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For one another.
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But i think sometimes just giving people permission to say
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This doesn't make sense to me.
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You know, don't give me some bumper sticker faith, you know,
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Tell me this is what i'm experiencing right now, and
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This is what you said is true.
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And you believe this word.
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I believe this word as deep as the marrow in my in my bones,
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But it doesn't mean that life is easy to understand
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Because it's just not. yeah.
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I think it's easy for us in challenging seasons to think
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That god has abandoned us.
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But in challenging seasons, god is consistently good, and he's
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With us because he's not changing.
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He's an everlasting god.
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Just again, if we don't feel
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It, doesn't mean he's not there.
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Just because we don't see it in our time doesn't mean we
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Understand god's timeline.
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And so we have to actually step outside of ourselves and
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Remember that the world and this timeline and eternity is
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Much bigger than us, and we wouldn't exist if god didn't
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Have a purpose for us in this season, in this time,
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Just as we are.
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And i think that mystery of, why?
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I mean, we could, uh, run circles trying to navigate
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The theology of it. all right.
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How we live in a broken world and so on and so forth.
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But at the end of the day, it's it's mystery that we are
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Trying to navigate.
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Um, where are you in the midst of this pain?
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Why did you say yes to this when you could have blocked it?
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And you know, and i know it's easy for us to kind of talk
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About this in a very sweet
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Manner because, i mean, look at us.
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We're comfortable.
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We're, you know, we're friends.
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We, you know, we're in this lovely little corner, uh,
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Talking about this topic, but i am sure anyone that's listening
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In that's actually going through it right now are
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Thinking, it does not look that pretty.
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Yeah. and, um, i don't want a formula like.
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And i think that's the the strange gift of pain.
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The strange gift of pain,
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Even though it's so mysterious, even though it feels like god
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Is hiding, is that it makes you not willing to settle for
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Anything less than the presence of god.
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Yeah. like when you are in
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Pain, religion just is not enough.
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Someone, somebody else's
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Testimony is just not enough.
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Right. like, no one else will do.
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Nothing else will make it all right.
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You need god, right?
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So in that, when you're going through things that you do not
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Understand, it really reveals what you're living for
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Because if you're living for success and you're suffering
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Because you're not being successful, that shows, right?
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And but if you're living for the presence of god, then you
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Could still win in the midst of suffering.
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Yeah. because you will know him in a way that you can never
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Really know him in the mountaintops.
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And although the presence of god will always be at least a
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Bit mysterious to us because he's so big and so grand, but
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There are revelations of his presence that could only really
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Be found in the valleys.
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It's hard to view pain as a gift.
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Pain seems like something we would want to avoid at all
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Costs, and it's not something we sign up for and say, yeah,
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Boy, i would just love to suffer.
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But what i've discovered in my own life is that pain can be
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Such a door thrown open to understand more of the goodness
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And the grace and the mercy of god.
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I can think of so many times in my life.
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I remember recently when i thought i'd broken my neck, and
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I'm in a big machine, and they're all going through all
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These different tests, and there was something.
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There's something about the
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Nearness of god when you were struggling.
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Perhaps it's because we realize
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Again how dependent we are on him.
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But if you find yourself in a place right now where you are
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In pain, ask the lord to show you how much he loves you
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In the midst of it,
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And i believe you'll come out differently.
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You know, it's interesting because i had heard about god
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Being comforter, but really, unless you have pain, you don't
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Need a comforter. that's right.
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Unless you need something, you don't feel the provision of go.
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Unless you're sick,
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You don't experience the healing of god.
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Yeah. and so, so many times we're like, god, we want
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More of you.
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God, we want to experience all this from you.
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And yet the pain is what--
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Honestly, that's why i've experienced all of
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Those things from god.
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Like, i never knew god was as good--
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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--until i walked through the valley,
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Until everything was stripped away from me.
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And then at the rock bottom,
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When everything about my life changed, i met the comforter
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In a deep way.
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And we don't ever find that comforter without the pain.
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And i would never pick the pain,
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But i would pick the comforter every day.
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Yeah. every day.
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The experience, his nearness, his presence.
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Who he is in the valley of the shadow of death so that we
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Don't have to have any fear because he is with us in it
00:12:44.552 --> 00:12:48.489
And what he does in it.
00:12:48.489 --> 00:12:49.757
And so often in those moments of our lives where it feels
00:12:49.757 --> 00:12:53.061
Like you are drowning in pain, like god, i don't even know how
00:12:53.061 --> 00:12:56.397
To describe how much i hurt.
00:12:56.397 --> 00:12:58.700
There are moments where i literally thought, i don't know
00:12:58.700 --> 00:13:00.902
How i'm not dying right now because i looked normal on the
00:13:00.902 --> 00:13:03.538
Outside and on the inside,
00:13:03.538 --> 00:13:05.340
I just felt like i was crumbling.
00:13:05.340 --> 00:13:07.408
But, you know, you go to the word of god and you see what he
00:13:07.408 --> 00:13:10.111
Does in the midst of those moments.
00:13:10.111 --> 00:13:12.647
And it takes those moments.
00:13:12.647 --> 00:13:14.015
And it's hard because none of us would ever pick it.
00:13:14.015 --> 00:13:16.517
We would never pick the pain, ever.
00:13:16.517 --> 00:13:18.286
But what god does in it-- and i remember reading romans five,
00:13:18.286 --> 00:13:21.289
Where it talks about how we rejoice in our suffering.
00:13:21.289 --> 00:13:25.193
Like, how do you rejoice in our suffering?
00:13:25.193 --> 00:13:27.729
But the word there, it says knowing. that knowing part,
00:13:27.729 --> 00:13:30.531
That's the hope, the knowing that god is going to do
00:13:30.531 --> 00:13:33.534
Something even when we don't feel it, even when
00:13:33.534 --> 00:13:35.403
We didn't see it.
00:13:35.403 --> 00:13:36.671
In the moment when i buried my husband and i was raising my
00:13:36.671 --> 00:13:38.940
Babies by myself, i had no idea how god could use it.
00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:42.143
But i remember reading the word saying, god,
00:13:42.143 --> 00:13:43.945
I am trusting that this pain is too painful to be wasted.
00:13:43.945 --> 00:13:47.582
And you promise that all things work together for good.
00:13:47.582 --> 00:13:50.952
So there's something that you can do in the midst of this,
00:13:50.952 --> 00:13:53.922
And i'm holding you to that promise.
00:13:53.922 --> 00:13:55.556
But it says it's knowing that knowing that suffering produces
00:13:55.556 --> 00:13:59.160
And it says endurance,
00:13:59.160 --> 00:14:00.395
That is the last thing you feel in suffering is endurance.
00:14:00.395 --> 00:14:03.631
I mean, the last thing i felt
00:14:03.631 --> 00:14:05.066
Was, oh, i have got all the strength.
00:14:05.066 --> 00:14:06.968
I'm going to enjoy this.
00:14:06.968 --> 00:14:08.269
I mean, i felt the weakest of weak, but in that is what god
00:14:08.269 --> 00:14:11.539
Produced in us is that endurance.
00:14:11.539 --> 00:14:13.641
And it says suffering produces endurance, and endurance
00:14:13.641 --> 00:14:16.911
Produces character, that proven character, the character that
00:14:16.911 --> 00:14:20.648
Says, because laurie has walked through something hard and she
00:14:20.648 --> 00:14:23.518
Gave me a word of encouragement, i took it
00:14:23.518 --> 00:14:25.186
From her because i know that she went through the fire and
00:14:25.186 --> 00:14:28.289
Didn't come out smelling like smoke.
00:14:28.289 --> 00:14:30.391
Her word means something because she had walked through
00:14:30.391 --> 00:14:33.294
It and she had endurance.
00:14:33.294 --> 00:14:34.362
You have proven character.
00:14:34.362 --> 00:14:35.663
And then it says hope, a hope that does not put us to shame.
00:14:35.663 --> 00:14:39.667
That is the hope of jesus.
00:14:39.667 --> 00:14:41.302
It is the one that doesn't put us to shame when all else is.
00:14:41.302 --> 00:14:44.305
And i mean, we had i think i'm the most blessed widow
00:14:44.305 --> 00:14:46.741
In the entire world.
00:14:46.741 --> 00:14:48.009
I'm telling you, we had the most incredible people showing
00:14:48.009 --> 00:14:50.745
Up for us, but nobody could offer the living hope
00:14:50.745 --> 00:14:53.848
Like jesus could.
00:14:53.848 --> 00:14:55.316
Nobody could offer me the comfort that god could
00:14:55.316 --> 00:14:57.852
And that his word did.
00:14:57.852 --> 00:14:59.320
But that's what you cling on to in those moments when you don't
00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:02.523
Understand why bad things happen to good people, when you
00:15:02.523 --> 00:15:05.360
Don't understand why this is the road.
00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:07.729
This is the bed i woke up in today.
00:15:07.729 --> 00:15:09.731
God, i can't believe this is the life that i woke up to.
00:15:09.731 --> 00:15:13.101
And you have those moments.
00:15:13.101 --> 00:15:14.469
But in those moments, you go, god, i have to trust that
00:15:14.469 --> 00:15:17.538
You will do something,
00:15:17.538 --> 00:15:18.740
That one day i'm going to look back and say that this
00:15:18.740 --> 00:15:21.376
Suffering did produce something in me, even when you don't
00:15:21.376 --> 00:15:23.978
Feel it in the moment.
00:15:23.978 --> 00:15:26.381
There were so many days in my life that i felt like the pain
00:15:26.381 --> 00:15:29.283
Was unbearable, and it was hard to take the next step,
00:15:29.283 --> 00:15:32.820
But do the next right thing.
00:15:32.820 --> 00:15:35.656
I remember a mentor telling me, don't think about the whole
00:15:35.656 --> 00:15:38.893
Week, the whole month of suffering.
00:15:38.893 --> 00:15:40.928
Just think about the moment.
00:15:40.928 --> 00:15:42.030
God, i can get out of bed right now.
00:15:42.030 --> 00:15:44.098
God, i can get dressed right now.
00:15:44.098 --> 00:15:45.833
God, i can open up your word right now.
00:15:45.833 --> 00:15:47.635
God, i may not be able to speak truth over my life,
00:15:47.635 --> 00:15:50.571
But your word does.
00:15:50.571 --> 00:15:51.939
I may not be able to sing hope,
00:15:51.939 --> 00:15:53.674
But i can play this worship song.
00:15:53.674 --> 00:15:55.209
So i want to encourage you.
00:15:55.209 --> 00:15:56.511
If you feel like you can't take the next step, that you would
00:15:56.511 --> 00:15:59.414
Just walk in obedience and that you would that you would on
00:15:59.414 --> 00:16:03.217
Faith say, jesus, i need you,
00:16:03.217 --> 00:16:05.153
Give me the strength to make it through today,
00:16:05.153 --> 00:16:07.622
And he will be faithful.
00:16:07.622 --> 00:16:08.890
And if he can do it for me, he can do it for you, too.
00:16:08.890 --> 00:16:15.063
I think one of the greatest questions that will never be
00:16:18.633 --> 00:16:21.002
Answered on this earth is, why
00:16:21.002 --> 00:16:23.471
Does god allow bad things to happen?
00:16:23.471 --> 00:16:25.807
Now, first of all, you might
00:16:25.807 --> 00:16:26.774
Think, well, does god cause bad things?
00:16:26.774 --> 00:16:29.410
Absolutely not.
00:16:29.410 --> 00:16:30.445
God is perfect. god is love.
00:16:30.445 --> 00:16:31.913
God does not cause bad things to happen, but he does
00:16:31.913 --> 00:16:36.384
Allow bad things to happen on this planet.
00:16:36.384 --> 00:16:38.119
We're living on a fallen earth.
00:16:38.119 --> 00:16:39.754
But that's why jesus came.
00:16:39.754 --> 00:16:41.756
Jesus came because we decided we could do life on our own,
00:16:41.756 --> 00:16:44.926
And we didn't need god.
00:16:44.926 --> 00:16:46.360
And we left this big gap between us and god.
00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:49.130
So jesus came.
00:16:49.130 --> 00:16:50.465
So yeah, it's okay to ask questions.
00:16:50.465 --> 00:16:52.767
It's okay to wonder why, but just know that no matter what
00:16:52.767 --> 00:16:57.205
You might be dealing with right now, god loves you.
00:16:57.205 --> 00:17:01.776
We are better together because of you.
00:17:01.776 --> 00:17:04.212
Connect with us on social media to ask us a question, share our
00:17:04.212 --> 00:17:06.881
Prayer requests, and make
00:17:06.881 --> 00:17:08.149
Friends with women all over the world.
00:17:08.149 --> 00:17:10.251
Let's keep the conversation going.
00:17:10.251 --> 00:17:13.788
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00:17:13.788 --> 00:17:15.790
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00:17:15.790 --> 00:17:18.159
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00:17:18.159 --> 00:17:21.004
When you have kids, all sorts of paranoia just arise because
00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:29.071
You just think, oh my goodness, anything could happen to them.
00:17:29.071 --> 00:17:32.007
So i used to pray for everything.
00:17:32.007 --> 00:17:34.610
Lord, may they not hit their head on the wall.
00:17:34.610 --> 00:17:37.012
Lord, may they not lose their this.
00:17:37.012 --> 00:17:39.481
And may they--
00:17:39.481 --> 00:17:40.549
May their friends always like them.
00:17:40.549 --> 00:17:42.384
Lord, may-- you know?
00:17:42.384 --> 00:17:43.819
And, um, i remember one day i just felt the lord
00:17:43.819 --> 00:17:47.656
Challenge me on that.
00:17:47.656 --> 00:17:49.525
Like faith,
00:17:49.525 --> 00:17:51.426
Do you want your children to live a happy life, or do you
00:17:51.426 --> 00:17:55.531
Want them to know me?
00:17:55.531 --> 00:17:56.932
Mhm. you know,
00:17:56.932 --> 00:17:58.167
Oh my goodness, maybe i'm praying the kind of prayers and
00:17:58.167 --> 00:18:01.970
The what i'm actually trying to bless them with is just
00:18:01.970 --> 00:18:07.509
Painless moments,
00:18:07.509 --> 00:18:09.344
But no real faith, no real intimacy with the lord.
00:18:09.344 --> 00:18:13.782
And although suffering is not something what god wants for
00:18:13.782 --> 00:18:17.152
Us, it's not something that god wants for us, but it
00:18:17.152 --> 00:18:20.055
Reveals his face.
00:18:20.055 --> 00:18:21.623
It reveals who he is, and faith grows during that suffering.
00:18:21.623 --> 00:18:26.261
So i had to make a really tough choice like, okay, god, i think
00:18:26.261 --> 00:18:29.731
I need to change the way that i pray.
00:18:29.731 --> 00:18:32.000
And it reminds me of job how at the end of the 42 chapters of
00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:38.507
Questioning, wondering why did this suffering happen?
00:18:38.507 --> 00:18:42.544
Right? he goes, i had heard reports about you, but now my
00:18:42.544 --> 00:18:47.983
Eyes have seen you, you know, and there's just something
00:18:47.983 --> 00:18:52.254
About seeing god through the suffering that it's not the
00:18:52.254 --> 00:18:55.724
Same as seeing him through happy moments.
00:18:55.724 --> 00:18:59.294
It's so important for us as
00:18:59.294 --> 00:19:01.129
Moms to show and display to our kids,
00:19:01.129 --> 00:19:03.932
What do we do in suffering?
00:19:03.932 --> 00:19:06.068
So easily,
00:19:06.068 --> 00:19:06.835
We want to shield them from our
00:19:06.835 --> 00:19:08.337
Pain, from our tears, from our discouragement.
00:19:08.337 --> 00:19:10.839
But we also in those moments, we want to show them,
00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:13.609
Where do we turn to when things are hard?
00:19:13.609 --> 00:19:16.044
Where does mommy go to when i
00:19:16.044 --> 00:19:18.080
Feel hurt and when i feel broken?
00:19:18.080 --> 00:19:20.082
And that is jesus.
00:19:20.082 --> 00:19:21.750
It is okay and it is good for our kids to see us on our
00:19:21.750 --> 00:19:24.786
Knees, weeping before the lord
00:19:24.786 --> 00:19:26.588
And trusting him in the hard things.
00:19:26.588 --> 00:19:28.457
I remember saying over and over again, mommy is hurting right
00:19:28.457 --> 00:19:31.526
Now and i'm crying, but we are going to be okay because god is
00:19:31.526 --> 00:19:34.329
With us and he will never leave us.
00:19:34.329 --> 00:19:36.531
He's going to be a father to the fatherless, and he will be
00:19:36.531 --> 00:19:39.101
A defender of the widow.
00:19:39.101 --> 00:19:40.535
And i would say that verse over and over again to my kids.
00:19:40.535 --> 00:19:43.338
I think it's very important that we don't just teach our
00:19:43.338 --> 00:19:45.807
Children, but we show them that jesus is faithful and that he
00:19:45.807 --> 00:19:49.011
Has shown up time and time again, and he will
00:19:49.011 --> 00:19:52.281
Always make a way.
00:19:52.281 --> 00:19:54.650
You know, and i think when people go through stuff like
00:19:54.650 --> 00:19:58.287
Brittany, you know, when you hear about friends or family
00:19:58.287 --> 00:20:02.758
That are going through something tough like that or
00:20:02.758 --> 00:20:05.193
Their child dies, or-- down deep inside there is a
00:20:05.193 --> 00:20:10.198
Hope inside that, man,
00:20:10.198 --> 00:20:11.833
They're going to see a facet of god that i can now glean that
00:20:11.833 --> 00:20:17.472
I'm going to be able to glean.
00:20:17.472 --> 00:20:18.907
And i've got a precious friend, cheryl, that, um, our two
00:20:18.907 --> 00:20:22.778
Youngest babies were born just a few days apart.
00:20:22.778 --> 00:20:25.681
And at six years old, cody and gabrielle both turned six, and
00:20:25.681 --> 00:20:31.386
They had found a brain tumor
00:20:31.386 --> 00:20:33.221
In gabrielle, and i watched cheryl go through that.
00:20:33.221 --> 00:20:37.292
Right. until the baby died.
00:20:37.292 --> 00:20:39.061
And i am telling you, there is nothing that i have gone
00:20:39.061 --> 00:20:44.499
Through that was like that.
00:20:44.499 --> 00:20:46.068
And i love the scripture.
00:20:46.068 --> 00:20:47.369
When jesus says, i have prayed that your faith is strong, and
00:20:47.369 --> 00:20:50.972
To think that god would be interceding on our behalf,
00:20:50.972 --> 00:20:55.143
That praying that our faith is strong, you know. and i would
00:20:55.143 --> 00:20:58.246
Think, man, cheryl's going to find god in a way that i
00:20:58.246 --> 00:21:02.384
Just want to glean on.
00:21:02.384 --> 00:21:03.685
I don't want that to happen to my baby, but i'm going to pray
00:21:03.685 --> 00:21:06.822
For her and i'm going to glean in those testimonies.
00:21:06.822 --> 00:21:10.292
The bible talks about god comforting you so that you
00:21:10.292 --> 00:21:14.262
Can comfort others. that's right.
00:21:14.262 --> 00:21:16.631
To draw, to draw them and share in that comforting because of
00:21:16.631 --> 00:21:21.036
Those experiences.
00:21:21.036 --> 00:21:22.504
So everybody's faith walk is so different and we all bring our
00:21:22.504 --> 00:21:28.777
Story to the table.
00:21:28.777 --> 00:21:30.045
That's why we're called the body of christ, because we all
00:21:30.045 --> 00:21:33.148
Will experience god in so many different ways,
00:21:33.148 --> 00:21:35.417
And it's not the same.
00:21:35.417 --> 00:21:37.219
My story is not the same as sheila's.
00:21:37.219 --> 00:21:39.955
It's not the same as brittney's, but we all have to
00:21:39.955 --> 00:21:43.091
Walk by faith because in this
00:21:43.091 --> 00:21:46.428
World you will have tribulation.
00:21:46.428 --> 00:21:49.798
We will have suffering.
00:21:49.798 --> 00:21:51.333
We will have.
00:21:51.333 --> 00:21:52.601
But he's overcome. yes.
00:21:52.601 --> 00:21:54.803
And so in his kingdom, him living through us,
00:21:54.803 --> 00:21:58.707
Because the kingdom of god is within us.
00:21:58.707 --> 00:22:00.909
So we're not living in a kingdom.
00:22:00.909 --> 00:22:03.044
God's living his kingdom through us.
00:22:03.044 --> 00:22:05.247
So living that in the righteousness and the peace and
00:22:05.247 --> 00:22:08.617
The joy and knowing all of the things that we get to glean
00:22:08.617 --> 00:22:12.988
From god in the time of suffering is surrendering to
00:22:12.988 --> 00:22:17.125
It, surrendering to the process of going through things that
00:22:17.125 --> 00:22:23.398
God, you are my comfort.
00:22:23.398 --> 00:22:25.200
You will mend my broken heart doesn't mean that the pain--
00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:29.905
I think we all feel that.
00:22:29.905 --> 00:22:31.640
You know jacob, for instance.
00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:34.576
You know, we might walk with a limp, but it reminds us of the
00:22:34.576 --> 00:22:38.480
Goodness of god in those times.
00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:41.049
I just know that god is enough
00:22:41.049 --> 00:22:43.952
And his grace is sufficient for us.
00:22:43.952 --> 00:22:46.588
And a lot of times we look at
00:22:46.588 --> 00:22:47.589
Things going, i could never do that.
00:22:47.589 --> 00:22:49.825
Well, yes you could.
00:22:49.825 --> 00:22:51.426
When that time would come for you to walk through something,
00:22:51.426 --> 00:22:54.229
God will give you the grace to walk through it.
00:22:54.229 --> 00:22:58.066
And i love you for being who you are through all of it.
00:22:58.066 --> 00:23:02.504
Brittany, you're such a testimony.
00:23:02.504 --> 00:23:04.506
Absolutely. i mean, you're sitting here going, i am the
00:23:04.506 --> 00:23:06.274
Most grateful widow.
00:23:06.274 --> 00:23:09.177
Who even starts to say that at the beginning of that journey,
00:23:09.177 --> 00:23:12.714
Brittany and god, look what god has done in you.
00:23:12.714 --> 00:23:17.486
Look at the restoration in you and your family
00:23:17.486 --> 00:23:20.655
And what god can do.
00:23:20.655 --> 00:23:22.557
And it's because you've allowed god to take you through that.
00:23:22.557 --> 00:23:28.763
And to come out smelling like a rose is just one of the most
00:23:28.763 --> 00:23:33.668
Beautiful things that we all get to experience.
00:23:33.668 --> 00:23:36.838
We all get to glean from from the life of god that's on
00:23:36.838 --> 00:23:40.942
The inside of you,
00:23:40.942 --> 00:23:42.310
The fruit of your spirit is something that we all get to
00:23:42.310 --> 00:23:46.147
Partake from, and i love you for that.
00:23:46.147 --> 00:23:48.783
Thank you for that encouragement.
00:23:48.783 --> 00:23:49.851
It's a beautiful story. thank you.
00:23:49.851 --> 00:23:51.653
Jesus has been so faithful.
00:23:51.653 --> 00:23:54.689
When i'm going through suffering,
00:23:54.689 --> 00:23:56.157
And i need to reconcile that
00:23:56.157 --> 00:23:57.959
With the hope that we see in scripture,
00:23:57.959 --> 00:24:01.096
I also have to remind myself that god promises suffering, as
00:24:01.096 --> 00:24:05.233
In not that he wants you to suffer, but that every disciple
00:24:05.233 --> 00:24:09.871
Can expect to suffer on this side of eternity.
00:24:09.871 --> 00:24:13.708
As long as we are on earth, at this side of all that god is
00:24:13.708 --> 00:24:18.480
Doing in redemptive history, we could expect there to be
00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:22.083
Suffering because there's still evil in this world.
00:24:22.083 --> 00:24:24.553
And so when i think, okay, how come i'm going through this
00:24:24.553 --> 00:24:28.557
Painful situation,
00:24:28.557 --> 00:24:29.758
And yet in the bible there's hope,
00:24:29.758 --> 00:24:32.127
I have to also remind myself, jesus and his disciples and
00:24:32.127 --> 00:24:36.298
Apostles talked a lot about finding joy through
00:24:36.298 --> 00:24:39.634
Suffering as well.
00:24:39.634 --> 00:24:42.037
One of the things i've struggled with more is when
00:24:42.037 --> 00:24:45.106
Something not great happens to your child.
00:24:45.106 --> 00:24:47.208
That's exactly it.
00:24:47.208 --> 00:24:48.043
You know, it's interesting.
00:24:48.043 --> 00:24:49.411
If i've walked through tough times, i know enough about the
00:24:49.411 --> 00:24:51.780
Character and goodness of god to know.
00:24:51.780 --> 00:24:53.848
Well, i don't quite understand this right now, but i know
00:24:53.848 --> 00:24:56.418
You're here.
00:24:56.418 --> 00:24:57.686
But when something happens to my son, that's much harder.
00:24:57.686 --> 00:25:00.889
I remember when when covid hit and christian had moved to
00:25:00.889 --> 00:25:04.759
Houston, you know, he was in graduate school.
00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:06.795
And so for the whole year he couldn't go to class.
00:25:06.795 --> 00:25:09.531
He was just in his apartment with a computer.
00:25:09.531 --> 00:25:11.967
And he started to experience real depression.
00:25:11.967 --> 00:25:14.736
And because that's in my story, it really scared me.
00:25:14.736 --> 00:25:17.739
And i remember one day him, you know, we facetimed every day
00:25:17.739 --> 00:25:21.376
But him saying, i feel like i'm in a dark tunnel, mom.
00:25:21.376 --> 00:25:23.812
I just feel like i'm in a tunnel.
00:25:23.812 --> 00:25:25.647
And that night, i mean, i stayed up for hours
00:25:25.647 --> 00:25:29.084
Just praying for him.
00:25:29.084 --> 00:25:30.485
But then the lord led me to psalm 23, where it says, even
00:25:30.485 --> 00:25:34.356
Though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
00:25:34.356 --> 00:25:36.558
And it was this understanding of the for there to be a
00:25:36.558 --> 00:25:39.394
Shadow, there has to be light.
00:25:39.394 --> 00:25:40.996
There's never a shadow if there's not any light.
00:25:40.996 --> 00:25:43.465
Such a good word.
00:25:43.465 --> 00:25:43.999
In total darkness,
00:25:43.999 --> 00:25:44.933
There's no shadow.
00:25:44.933 --> 00:25:46.201
And it was like the lord saying to me, sheila, i'm with him.
00:25:46.201 --> 00:25:49.404
And i realized what you say about grace, laurie is
00:25:49.404 --> 00:25:51.573
Absolutely right, because there's a difference between
00:25:51.573 --> 00:25:54.209
Participant grace and spectator grace.
00:25:54.209 --> 00:25:57.078
Yeah.
00:25:57.078 --> 00:25:57.779
You know, when you're in the
00:25:57.779 --> 00:25:58.647
Middle of something you experience,
00:25:58.647 --> 00:26:01.316
Whereas i looked on at my son and i'm like, lord, please,
00:26:01.316 --> 00:26:03.585
He's not this, he's not that. do this.
00:26:03.585 --> 00:26:05.687
But he was experiencing as he
00:26:05.687 --> 00:26:07.789
Learned to place his trust in jesus,
00:26:07.789 --> 00:26:09.658
And what did not make sense to him, that participant grace.
00:26:09.658 --> 00:26:12.794
And as a spectator
00:26:12.794 --> 00:26:14.095
As we look on and we think, oh, i could never do that.
00:26:14.095 --> 00:26:16.731
But when you find yourself in that place, there's a grace
00:26:16.731 --> 00:26:20.101
That's imparted that is a mystery to other people.
00:26:20.101 --> 00:26:23.538
Yeah. and how much of it, too, is sheila,
00:26:23.538 --> 00:26:26.074
You already had experience god's grace in that way.
00:26:26.074 --> 00:26:30.245
Yeah. and so even being present with your son kind of, you
00:26:30.245 --> 00:26:33.548
Know, trickles down and brittany, what you do, like
00:26:33.548 --> 00:26:36.718
Just sharing your story so authentically allows other
00:26:36.718 --> 00:26:39.554
People that feel like they're completely alone,
00:26:39.554 --> 00:26:42.390
It feel less alone.
00:26:42.390 --> 00:26:43.925
And laurie, earlier you had mentioned a scripture and it is
00:26:43.925 --> 00:26:47.028
Actually in second corinthians,verse three.
00:26:47.028 --> 00:26:49.898
This whole thing, actually the word comfort is used ten times.
00:26:49.898 --> 00:26:53.835
Ten times.
00:26:53.835 --> 00:26:55.136
But just the first six here is blessed be the god and father
00:26:55.136 --> 00:26:58.773
Of our lord jesus christ, the father of mercies and god of
00:26:58.773 --> 00:27:01.876
All comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we
00:27:01.876 --> 00:27:05.513
May be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, in
00:27:05.513 --> 00:27:08.783
Any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves
00:27:08.783 --> 00:27:11.986
Are comforted by god.
00:27:11.986 --> 00:27:13.488
For we share abundantly in christ's suffering.
00:27:13.488 --> 00:27:16.991
So through christ we share abundantly in comfort, too.
00:27:16.991 --> 00:27:21.629
And i remember, i mean, my childhood was not easy.
00:27:21.629 --> 00:27:25.400
My parents divorced when i was seven.
00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:27.335
I'm the oldest of three girls, and my mother did the best
00:27:27.335 --> 00:27:31.172
With what she had. it wasn't great.
00:27:31.172 --> 00:27:33.908
Um, i grew up in a very abusive home, and my--
00:27:33.908 --> 00:27:37.412
And she kept my father from us in the divorce.
00:27:37.412 --> 00:27:40.515
And when you're a kid, you
00:27:40.515 --> 00:27:41.449
Don't really know these things, right?
00:27:41.449 --> 00:27:43.351
And i just remember thinking, why would my dad leave me with
00:27:43.351 --> 00:27:47.255
Her? and then we got older and i always had some kind of,
00:27:47.255 --> 00:27:52.894
Like, a friendship kind of relationship with my dad.
00:27:52.894 --> 00:27:54.496
And my dad never said anything terrible about her.
00:27:54.496 --> 00:27:58.299
And then as we got older, i,
00:27:58.299 --> 00:27:59.734
You know, i was an adult at this point, married.
00:27:59.734 --> 00:28:02.237
I had my first child and i asked him, i said, can i
00:28:02.237 --> 00:28:05.206
Just ask you why?
00:28:05.206 --> 00:28:06.441
Because that was so hard for for us.
00:28:06.441 --> 00:28:10.345
It was so hard for me.
00:28:10.345 --> 00:28:11.579
And he didn't one know it was that hard.
00:28:11.579 --> 00:28:13.982
He knew it was hard, but he didn't know.
00:28:13.982 --> 00:28:15.416
But then these things started coming out where he did tell
00:28:15.416 --> 00:28:18.219
Us, like, you know, your mom didn't let me come see you
00:28:18.219 --> 00:28:20.622
Until certain things were done.
00:28:20.622 --> 00:28:22.157
And i'm not throwing her under the bus, like
00:28:22.157 --> 00:28:25.260
Life is life.
00:28:25.260 --> 00:28:26.795
It is difficult.
00:28:26.795 --> 00:28:28.263
I know that they did the best with what they could.
00:28:28.263 --> 00:28:30.598
And then fast forward about ten years ago, my dad was diagnosed
00:28:30.598 --> 00:28:35.270
With pancreatic cancer.
00:28:35.270 --> 00:28:37.539
And by the time he found out, it was like being on stage for
00:28:37.539 --> 00:28:41.342
It, like spread everywhere.
00:28:41.342 --> 00:28:43.378
And i remember sitting with him, my sisters and i sat
00:28:43.378 --> 00:28:45.280
With him and just
00:28:45.280 --> 00:28:47.549
Watched our father slowly fade away and disappear.
00:28:47.549 --> 00:28:52.453
And it's a painful cancer.
00:28:52.453 --> 00:28:54.455
It's suffering at its greatest.
00:28:54.455 --> 00:28:56.457
And i remember in my mind
00:28:56.457 --> 00:28:57.659
Thinking all of that in the past.
00:28:57.659 --> 00:29:00.695
And now
00:29:00.695 --> 00:29:02.397
You're taking my dad away.
00:29:02.397 --> 00:29:04.232
And not only that, like this terrible part of my mind was,
00:29:04.232 --> 00:29:07.702
God, was this the,
00:29:07.702 --> 00:29:08.703
It was the wrong parent, almost.
00:29:08.703 --> 00:29:10.405
And then i felt immediate guilt of thinking that.
00:29:10.405 --> 00:29:12.874
Because who would ever want anything-- but really like want
00:29:12.874 --> 00:29:16.144
Want the other, right.
00:29:16.144 --> 00:29:17.278
But i wanted more time with my dad that i felt like
00:29:17.278 --> 00:29:19.981
Was stolen from me.
00:29:19.981 --> 00:29:21.182
But i remember thinking, i remember coming to actually
00:29:21.182 --> 00:29:23.785
This passage as i was reading.
00:29:23.785 --> 00:29:25.720
And it was interesting how, um, a couple of people in my life,
00:29:25.720 --> 00:29:30.892
I confessed that to them, and i was like, i know this is
00:29:30.892 --> 00:29:33.094
Terrible, but i confessed it.
00:29:33.094 --> 00:29:34.729
They comforted me in sharing, hey, you're not the worst
00:29:34.729 --> 00:29:37.799
Person in the world.
00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:39.067
You're not out there trying to do bad things.
00:29:39.067 --> 00:29:41.870
You are actually confessing to god and to your community,
00:29:41.870 --> 00:29:46.274
This is hard.
00:29:46.274 --> 00:29:48.009
And i don't know how to hold this for myself.
00:29:48.009 --> 00:29:51.546
A first daughter like trying to hold that tension for
00:29:51.546 --> 00:29:54.549
Everybody, you know.
00:29:54.549 --> 00:29:55.750
And it is this interesting juxtaposition of i remember
00:29:55.750 --> 00:30:00.922
Feeling like, oh, this person that i just confessed this to
00:30:00.922 --> 00:30:03.758
Had gone through this before, and now they could hold space
00:30:03.758 --> 00:30:07.295
In a right way.
00:30:07.295 --> 00:30:08.563
When my brain was going all over the place, my feelings
00:30:08.563 --> 00:30:10.765
Were everywhere, hold a place for me,
00:30:10.765 --> 00:30:12.934
A space for me to really understand god fuller and
00:30:12.934 --> 00:30:17.272
See his grace in that.
00:30:17.272 --> 00:30:18.840
And so you all said things that are real examples of you being
00:30:18.840 --> 00:30:23.511
Present in other people's lives as they are suffering and going
00:30:23.511 --> 00:30:27.916
Through it in their time.
00:30:27.916 --> 00:30:29.217
And it does say it's in all our affliction, not just this one
00:30:29.217 --> 00:30:32.553
Or that one, but it's in all of it.
00:30:32.553 --> 00:30:34.923
So, uh, how great that we have this big god to kind of cover
00:30:34.923 --> 00:30:39.794
All of these areas for us.
00:30:39.794 --> 00:30:43.064
When we go through suffering with god,
00:30:43.064 --> 00:30:45.867
Then he uses that testimony to comfort others.
00:30:45.867 --> 00:30:49.470
So the god that you experience when you go through times of
00:30:49.470 --> 00:30:53.074
Hardship is the same god that you offer to others when
00:30:53.074 --> 00:30:57.612
They're going through similar times of hardship, there is a
00:30:57.612 --> 00:31:00.548
Plunder that you are going to gain as you go through this
00:31:00.548 --> 00:31:04.552
Season, and you're going to be able to share that plunder to
00:31:04.552 --> 00:31:08.656
Those others who are going to go through similar seasons.
00:31:08.656 --> 00:31:13.027
And he doesn't waste any pain.
00:31:13.027 --> 00:31:15.129
And he doesn't compare pain, does
00:31:15.129 --> 00:31:16.931
It say the god who comforts you,
00:31:16.931 --> 00:31:19.133
And only if you walk through this, and then you can only
00:31:19.133 --> 00:31:21.502
Comfort people if they've walked through this?
00:31:21.502 --> 00:31:23.705
No, it says the god of all comfort.
00:31:23.705 --> 00:31:25.640
Comfort. that has given us the
00:31:25.640 --> 00:31:27.275
Comfort that we can comfort people in any affliction.
00:31:27.275 --> 00:31:30.645
The people that stepped in my story, they didn't have the
00:31:30.645 --> 00:31:33.581
Same story as me.
00:31:33.581 --> 00:31:34.716
They had the same god.
00:31:34.716 --> 00:31:35.683
They had the same hope.
00:31:35.683 --> 00:31:36.851
They had the same comfort.
00:31:36.851 --> 00:31:38.319
That is what matters.
00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:39.320
It's our god.
00:31:39.320 --> 00:31:40.154
It is not our stories.
00:31:40.154 --> 00:31:41.422
It is the god that showed up in our stories.
00:31:41.422 --> 00:31:44.092
I don't have something in me.
00:31:44.092 --> 00:31:45.426
I have something in god.
00:31:45.426 --> 00:31:47.028
God alone has it to offer.
00:31:47.028 --> 00:31:48.763
And so when we go and we step into people's stories, we bring
00:31:48.763 --> 00:31:52.433
The comfort of god, not us.
00:31:52.433 --> 00:31:54.235
Right. and so we don't ever be
00:31:54.235 --> 00:31:55.703
In the business of comparing pain.
00:31:55.703 --> 00:31:57.238
I remember one time a friend being like, i'm scared to talk
00:31:57.238 --> 00:31:59.640
To you about my night of rest that i didn't have with my baby
00:31:59.640 --> 00:32:03.011
Because you just lost your husband.
00:32:03.011 --> 00:32:04.445
And i looked at her and i said, i want to hear all about it.
00:32:04.445 --> 00:32:07.015
And that is hard. that is your hard.
00:32:07.015 --> 00:32:08.716
You're walking through because all of us have a story.
00:32:08.716 --> 00:32:11.452
All of us have hard.
00:32:11.452 --> 00:32:12.820
And as friends, it's wrong to compare it.
00:32:12.820 --> 00:32:15.623
Your pain is your pain and it consumes you.
00:32:15.623 --> 00:32:18.292
And that's the beauty of god is god says, i'm going to meet
00:32:18.292 --> 00:32:21.396
With you in all pain, in all ways.
00:32:21.396 --> 00:32:23.998
And you know, he doesn't waste the stories of our lives.
00:32:23.998 --> 00:32:26.100
He doesn't waste the pain.
00:32:26.100 --> 00:32:27.568
You know, when you walk through something hard, like your
00:32:27.568 --> 00:32:29.837
Friend that ministered to you when you lost your dad,
00:32:29.837 --> 00:32:32.840
When you lost your dad,
00:32:32.840 --> 00:32:34.442
Now you love people.
00:32:34.442 --> 00:32:36.377
You view people in a whole different way because you've
00:32:36.377 --> 00:32:39.380
Walked through that.
00:32:39.380 --> 00:32:40.615
I will never walk through an airport the same ever again.
00:32:40.615 --> 00:32:42.850
I'm telling you, i think, how
00:32:42.850 --> 00:32:44.519
Many stories in this room of pain.
00:32:44.519 --> 00:32:47.955
Everyone looks fine on the outside, but you never know
00:32:47.955 --> 00:32:50.391
What people are walking through.
00:32:50.391 --> 00:32:51.926
And it just reminds me of the power of god.
00:32:51.926 --> 00:32:54.462
Yet all of us are walking through pain,
00:32:54.462 --> 00:32:55.963
But we all can have an experience,
00:32:55.963 --> 00:32:58.699
The comfort of jesus.
00:32:58.699 --> 00:32:59.801
That's so good.
00:32:59.801 --> 00:33:00.902
He took on our pain and suffering so that we could
00:33:00.902 --> 00:33:03.171
Choose him, that we could look to him because he carried it
00:33:03.171 --> 00:33:07.642
For us, you know.
00:33:07.642 --> 00:33:10.278
Because jesus suffered the ultimate suffering, we can
00:33:10.278 --> 00:33:15.183
Absolutely believe that god understands our pain to the
00:33:15.183 --> 00:33:19.187
Deepest level.
00:33:19.187 --> 00:33:20.822
Jesus is there to go first, really to help us understand,
00:33:20.822 --> 00:33:25.393
Um, not only that, we're not alone in our suffering, but
00:33:25.393 --> 00:33:28.763
Someone has gone before us in that and that he knows exactly
00:33:28.763 --> 00:33:32.834
How to hold us and how to comfort us.
00:33:32.834 --> 00:33:35.303
We know how to comfort our children and our friends.
00:33:35.303 --> 00:33:37.839
If we've gone through something similar or just gone through
00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:40.508
Some suffering of our own.
00:33:40.508 --> 00:33:41.909
Can you imagine the god of the universe, a jesus that has
00:33:41.909 --> 00:33:44.579
Suffered the ultimate death on a cross, coming to comfort us
00:33:44.579 --> 00:33:50.318
In our own hardships?
00:33:50.318 --> 00:33:52.420
That's so--
00:33:52.420 --> 00:33:54.222
It's such a healing place to sit.
00:33:54.222 --> 00:34:01.062
Hey, everybody.
00:34:03.898 --> 00:34:05.166
Sheila here with faith, and we're talking about some of the
00:34:05.166 --> 00:34:07.502
Things that we've talked about and better together.
00:34:07.502 --> 00:34:09.170
And i wanted to talk about
00:34:09.170 --> 00:34:10.805
A lot of people think when they suffer,
00:34:10.805 --> 00:34:13.808
Is this a punishment from god?
00:34:13.808 --> 00:34:15.643
Like, am i suffering like if i'm in a bad place right now?
00:34:15.643 --> 00:34:18.179
Is that because god's mad with me?
00:34:18.179 --> 00:34:20.181
I don't think god would make us pay for everything that
00:34:20.181 --> 00:34:23.751
We've done wrong.
00:34:23.751 --> 00:34:25.186
Sometimes suffering happens just because we live in a world
00:34:25.186 --> 00:34:28.823
That's still under the duress of evil.
00:34:28.823 --> 00:34:31.425
Yeah. right.
00:34:31.425 --> 00:34:32.727
And we still live in this day and time where although jesus
00:34:32.727 --> 00:34:34.929
Has died for our sins, he has
00:34:34.929 --> 00:34:37.031
Not made all things perfect and new.
00:34:37.031 --> 00:34:39.100
Yeah.
00:34:39.100 --> 00:34:40.268
And i think there's a difference between, like, if i
00:34:40.268 --> 00:34:42.303
Consciously do something that i know is wrong, there are
00:34:42.303 --> 00:34:45.139
Consequences to that.
00:34:45.139 --> 00:34:46.541
And for me, it's usually
00:34:46.541 --> 00:34:47.408
Something like, um, like last night.
00:34:47.408 --> 00:34:49.777
Yay! let's keep it current.
00:34:49.777 --> 00:34:51.379
I got mad with barry about something.
00:34:51.379 --> 00:34:54.215
Tell me more. keep going.
00:34:54.215 --> 00:34:56.584
But it was just-- and i--
00:34:56.584 --> 00:34:59.353
But i should know better.
00:34:59.353 --> 00:35:00.788
I mean, i should know better when,
00:35:00.788 --> 00:35:02.490
When i get like that,
00:35:02.490 --> 00:35:03.424
When i'm really tired
00:35:03.424 --> 00:35:04.492
Because i've just flown back in
00:35:04.492 --> 00:35:05.626
From somewhere else, and i was tired.
00:35:05.626 --> 00:35:07.428
And i should know better than
00:35:07.428 --> 00:35:08.729
To pull back immediately, and i didn't.
00:35:08.729 --> 00:35:10.731
I was just, i was just mad.
00:35:10.731 --> 00:35:11.999
And then, you know, so there's consequences to that.
00:35:11.999 --> 00:35:15.169
There's like a little breach until i was able to say, look,
00:35:15.169 --> 00:35:17.905
I'm really sorry. i'm tired.
00:35:17.905 --> 00:35:19.273
I didn't know.
00:35:19.273 --> 00:35:20.474
So, you know, sometimes you have to make things right.
00:35:20.474 --> 00:35:24.111
But if you find yourself in a hard place right now and you're
00:35:24.111 --> 00:35:26.914
Thinking, is this because god's mad with me,
00:35:26.914 --> 00:35:28.749
No. absolutely not.
00:35:28.749 --> 00:35:30.651
God loves you.
00:35:30.651 --> 00:35:31.819
God is watching over you.
00:35:31.819 --> 00:35:33.120
God cares for you.
00:35:33.120 --> 00:35:34.655
And not only that, but he's promised that he'll see us
00:35:34.655 --> 00:35:37.391
Through the hard things in life.
00:35:37.391 --> 00:35:40.194
Have you ever been in a situation where you think, god,
00:35:40.194 --> 00:35:43.130
When is this going to end? oh.
00:35:43.130 --> 00:35:45.499
All the time. all the time.
00:35:45.499 --> 00:35:48.135
And you know, i find that god would never really punish us
00:35:48.135 --> 00:35:52.073
Into purity.
00:35:52.073 --> 00:35:53.140
That's just not really what god does.
00:35:53.140 --> 00:35:54.675
It's his kindness that will lead us into repentance.
00:35:54.675 --> 00:35:57.778
And so whenever i get into this place where i'm starting to
00:35:57.778 --> 00:36:00.248
Condemn myself for the suffering, that is when we
00:36:00.248 --> 00:36:04.719
Should pivot, and that should be the alarm to say, oh,
00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:08.155
This is not of god.
00:36:08.155 --> 00:36:09.457
This is not something that god would do.
00:36:09.457 --> 00:36:11.692
Yeah. and i think too, the the greater the pain,
00:36:11.692 --> 00:36:14.462
The more you run to god.
00:36:14.462 --> 00:36:16.364
You know, sometimes we think if we're in a bad place that we
00:36:16.364 --> 00:36:19.000
Just, that we'll wait until we've got our act cleaned up
00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:22.003
And then come back to god.
00:36:22.003 --> 00:36:23.904
But if you're in a rough place right now, if you're in a place
00:36:23.904 --> 00:36:26.107
Where you are suffering either because of something that
00:36:26.107 --> 00:36:29.110
Happened to you or something you did, i would just really
00:36:29.110 --> 00:36:32.713
Encourage you to just,
00:36:32.713 --> 00:36:34.882
I remember when our son was little, i used to say to him
00:36:34.882 --> 00:36:37.084
That when the bigger the
00:36:37.084 --> 00:36:38.085
Problem, the faster you run home.
00:36:38.085 --> 00:36:40.187
And it's the same with your father.
00:36:40.187 --> 00:36:41.656
The bigger the problem, the faster you run home.
00:36:41.656 --> 00:36:44.158
Amen.
00:36:44.158 --> 00:36:46.360
Join the conversation on our
00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:47.928
Better together youtube channel.
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Subscribe today and never miss a new upload!
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It is important not to hide our grief from god.
00:37:00.710 --> 00:37:03.413
God does sit with us in our pain.
00:37:03.413 --> 00:37:05.948
He does mourn with us.
00:37:05.948 --> 00:37:07.650
One of my favorite things in scripture was when jesus
00:37:07.650 --> 00:37:11.087
Wept with people.
00:37:11.087 --> 00:37:12.588
He weeps with us and he cares about everything going on
00:37:12.588 --> 00:37:15.725
In our lives.
00:37:15.725 --> 00:37:16.959
He cares about every joy and every sorrow, and he is god
00:37:16.959 --> 00:37:19.696
With us in it all.
00:37:19.696 --> 00:37:22.732
I think sometimes we forget that joy is the fruit of
00:37:26.269 --> 00:37:28.738
The holy spirit. yeah.
00:37:28.738 --> 00:37:30.740
You know, and i think we feel like we're failing because we
00:37:30.740 --> 00:37:33.443
Cannot produce it when we're going through a lot of pain and
00:37:33.443 --> 00:37:37.280
Suffering, when we're disappointed, discouraged.
00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:40.450
And i know for myself, because i experienced, um, a lot of
00:37:40.450 --> 00:37:45.355
Depression and anxiety growing up because of, like, it was a
00:37:45.355 --> 00:37:48.825
Genetic thing, you know, after having had blood tests done, it
00:37:48.825 --> 00:37:52.261
Was a genetic mutation that made me more prone to it,
00:37:52.261 --> 00:37:55.798
But i never understood it. right.
00:37:55.798 --> 00:37:58.101
And so and i didn't understand why when i became a
00:37:58.101 --> 00:38:01.504
Believer, why joy just didn't, like, happen.
00:38:01.504 --> 00:38:04.507
It almost felt like a performance, right?
00:38:04.507 --> 00:38:07.243
And when you hear of testimonies of how, you know,
00:38:07.243 --> 00:38:10.646
Somebody went through something crazy and, and yet they still
00:38:10.646 --> 00:38:13.716
Praise the lord, i felt like a failure,
00:38:13.716 --> 00:38:16.786
Right, um, because i felt like i could not conjure up this
00:38:16.786 --> 00:38:20.990
Feeling that other people seem to be able to create.
00:38:20.990 --> 00:38:25.628
Um, but until i realized that,
00:38:25.628 --> 00:38:27.897
Wait. this is the fruit of the holy spirit.
00:38:27.897 --> 00:38:29.899
It's his to create.
00:38:29.899 --> 00:38:31.501
My only job is to cling.
00:38:31.501 --> 00:38:34.003
Cling onto jesus.
00:38:34.003 --> 00:38:36.005
And that suffering and that pain cannot stop his light
00:38:36.005 --> 00:38:40.643
From shining through.
00:38:40.643 --> 00:38:42.478
I mean, apostle paul wasn't sure whether he was going to
00:38:42.478 --> 00:38:45.014
Get executed the next day or staying in prison for the rest
00:38:45.014 --> 00:38:48.284
Of his life when he was writing philippians.
00:38:48.284 --> 00:38:50.353
Right. he didn't know what the future held.
00:38:50.353 --> 00:38:51.921
He just knew that he was
00:38:51.921 --> 00:38:53.489
Unjustly held captive and in a prison.
00:38:53.489 --> 00:38:57.393
And yet he didn't know he was changing the world while
00:38:57.393 --> 00:39:00.496
He was in prison.
00:39:00.496 --> 00:39:02.131
And it mentioned some rendition of joy at least 16 times
00:39:02.131 --> 00:39:05.768
In that tiny little book.
00:39:05.768 --> 00:39:07.670
Right? and it just goes to show it's we don't need to be
00:39:07.670 --> 00:39:11.774
Brighter, better, stronger in the midst of our pain.
00:39:11.774 --> 00:39:15.711
We need to just let his light shine.
00:39:15.711 --> 00:39:18.781
Right.
00:39:18.781 --> 00:39:19.615
You know, it's let his light shine.
00:39:19.615 --> 00:39:21.517
Not you shine brighter, right.
00:39:21.517 --> 00:39:24.120
And i think sometimes we put this religious pressure
00:39:24.120 --> 00:39:26.856
Upon ourselves to be the kind of person that god
00:39:26.856 --> 00:39:29.525
Could be pleased with. right.
00:39:29.525 --> 00:39:31.160
Um, but in that time, in your suffering, it's really
00:39:31.160 --> 00:39:33.996
Just clinging to jesus because it's abiding in that presence
00:39:33.996 --> 00:39:38.334
Of god that produces that fruit.
00:39:38.334 --> 00:39:41.037
So remember, the kingdom of god is righteousness, peace, and
00:39:41.037 --> 00:39:45.741
Joy in the holy spirit.
00:39:45.741 --> 00:39:47.543
So since we have part of the godhead living on the inside of
00:39:47.543 --> 00:39:52.482
Us, jesus said, it's better that i go away, because then
00:39:52.482 --> 00:39:55.651
The holy spirit's going to come and live in you,
00:39:55.651 --> 00:39:58.187
The one that overcomes,
00:39:58.187 --> 00:39:59.188
The one that helps, the one who overcomes.
00:39:59.188 --> 00:40:02.658
Right. so to count it all joy whenever you fall into these
00:40:02.658 --> 00:40:08.030
Things, these temptations and these trials, and then says to
00:40:08.030 --> 00:40:12.568
Rejoice yourself in the lord.
00:40:12.568 --> 00:40:14.403
Rejoice, o my soul, rejoice.
00:40:14.403 --> 00:40:18.574
Rejoice yourself.
00:40:18.574 --> 00:40:20.776
So we have to lean in to rejoice ourselves.
00:40:20.776 --> 00:40:23.946
And i love what nona said the other day.
00:40:23.946 --> 00:40:26.148
Do you know what i'm talking about?
00:40:26.148 --> 00:40:27.383
She said, she said, when you rejoice yourself,
00:40:27.383 --> 00:40:31.587
She said the joy was there for you at the moment and you
00:40:31.587 --> 00:40:36.592
Might have missed it.
00:40:36.592 --> 00:40:37.793
You can go back and rejoice because it's there for you
00:40:37.793 --> 00:40:42.331
All the time to rejoice in your suffering.
00:40:42.331 --> 00:40:45.801
How do you-- but the holy spirit in us can help us to rejoice.
00:40:45.801 --> 00:40:51.807
And that's just something we just have to experience.
00:40:51.807 --> 00:40:56.245
Probably when i've gone through a situation that has just kind
00:40:56.245 --> 00:40:59.815
Of taken everything out of me,
00:40:59.815 --> 00:41:01.884
I find time to rejoice in the lord.
00:41:01.884 --> 00:41:04.987
That means to rejoice myself.
00:41:04.987 --> 00:41:07.557
It says, choose to rejoice, o my soul, i will rejoice.
00:41:07.557 --> 00:41:12.895
And so it's something that i choose, that i get to choose.
00:41:12.895 --> 00:41:17.366
I get to choose to rejoice, to rejoice myself in the lord.
00:41:17.366 --> 00:41:21.938
And that comes from just worship.
00:41:21.938 --> 00:41:24.273
Putting your eyes on god, telling him how magnificent
00:41:24.273 --> 00:41:28.010
And holy he is.
00:41:28.010 --> 00:41:29.645
Thank him for the blessings in your life.
00:41:29.645 --> 00:41:32.381
All of a sudden your world starts changing.
00:41:32.381 --> 00:41:34.917
Your perspective starts changing.
00:41:34.917 --> 00:41:36.953
I thank you god that you're watching over me, that you see
00:41:36.953 --> 00:41:39.789
Everything in my life that concerns me and that you are
00:41:39.789 --> 00:41:42.792
The holder of life, and that everything that pertains to
00:41:42.792 --> 00:41:45.962
Life and godliness comes from you.
00:41:45.962 --> 00:41:48.397
I will rejoice in the lord and all of a sudden you start
00:41:48.397 --> 00:41:51.934
Speaking. grab your psalms, you start reading some of those
00:41:51.934 --> 00:41:54.770
Things and i'm telling you, up in your spirit rises hope, love
00:41:54.770 --> 00:41:59.642
And joy and a peace that passes
00:41:59.642 --> 00:42:02.011
Anything you could ever imagine.
00:42:02.011 --> 00:42:04.647
Even when you mentioned philippians,
00:42:04.647 --> 00:42:06.449
What i love about that, the beginning of that letter, is
00:42:06.449 --> 00:42:09.118
The way he recognizes god in
00:42:09.118 --> 00:42:10.920
The situation because he's changed.
00:42:10.920 --> 00:42:12.989
You know, he doesn't know. as you say, he could be executed.
00:42:12.989 --> 00:42:15.524
He could be released. he could stay in prison.
00:42:15.524 --> 00:42:17.393
But he says to the people he's writing to,
00:42:17.393 --> 00:42:19.829
But here's the deal.
00:42:19.829 --> 00:42:21.063
All the guards here, they know why i'm here.
00:42:21.063 --> 00:42:23.299
I'm here because i refuse to renounce the name of jesus.
00:42:23.299 --> 00:42:27.503
But then he goes on to say, and the other believers, rather
00:42:27.503 --> 00:42:30.406
Than thinking, oh gosh, this is terrible, we'd better hide our
00:42:30.406 --> 00:42:33.309
Faith, are becoming encouraged.
00:42:33.309 --> 00:42:35.411
So i think one of the things that's amazing about it is you
00:42:35.411 --> 00:42:38.147
Can find yourself in a bad
00:42:38.147 --> 00:42:39.315
Place, but recognize god's in it.
00:42:39.315 --> 00:42:41.851
Yeah. and people are watching and things are happening that
00:42:41.851 --> 00:42:45.021
That we, you can't see at that moment.
00:42:45.021 --> 00:42:47.223
But i just, i can't wait to meet paul.
00:42:47.223 --> 00:42:50.426
I know so many questions. right.
00:42:50.426 --> 00:42:52.928
Me too. well, i just, i just want
00:42:52.928 --> 00:42:54.196
To thank him so much for the fact that in the worst moments
00:42:54.196 --> 00:42:57.700
Of his life, he wrote to us and said, listen, i know this looks
00:42:57.700 --> 00:43:01.170
Like you're chained up here.
00:43:01.170 --> 00:43:02.471
I know this looks like it all went wrong, but a, know that god
00:43:02.471 --> 00:43:06.108
Is with you, and b, that know that people are watching,
00:43:06.108 --> 00:43:08.544
You know, and all of this is going to bring glory to god.
00:43:08.544 --> 00:43:12.281
And he's the great redeemer and restorer.
00:43:12.281 --> 00:43:15.117
And i think so often when we think of that, we think
00:43:15.117 --> 00:43:17.386
Of that in human terms. right?
00:43:17.386 --> 00:43:19.188
In human terms, we think redeeming and restoring is
00:43:19.188 --> 00:43:22.825
Bringing it back to where it was.
00:43:22.825 --> 00:43:24.560
Right? and i, i can look at my lives and there's lots of
00:43:24.560 --> 00:43:28.464
Things that god has done to redeem my story.
00:43:28.464 --> 00:43:31.367
I'm not that same person that i was ten years ago when i
00:43:31.367 --> 00:43:35.071
Was this new mom walking through all this.
00:43:35.071 --> 00:43:37.406
God has redeemed and restored so much in my life.
00:43:37.406 --> 00:43:39.642
But there are things that will never be restored or redeemed
00:43:39.642 --> 00:43:42.411
On this side of eternity.
00:43:42.411 --> 00:43:43.946
But god has redeemed me. yes.
00:43:43.946 --> 00:43:46.515
And that's what he does. yeah.
00:43:46.515 --> 00:43:48.050
So when we think about it through heavenly terms of
00:43:48.050 --> 00:43:50.786
Going, christ is the redeemer,
00:43:50.786 --> 00:43:53.422
Christ is the restorer,
00:43:53.422 --> 00:43:55.224
Christ is the reward,
00:43:55.224 --> 00:43:56.926
Christ is the treasure,
00:43:56.926 --> 00:43:58.794
He is the light in the darkness,
00:43:58.794 --> 00:44:00.896
That is what he does in us.
00:44:00.896 --> 00:44:02.598
And so in all of our stories, you know, you may look at it
00:44:02.598 --> 00:44:05.534
And think, how could you redeem this god?
00:44:05.534 --> 00:44:07.703
How could you redeem it?
00:44:07.703 --> 00:44:08.871
He can redeem you, and he is after you in all of it.
00:44:08.871 --> 00:44:12.641
And that is the point. so good.
00:44:12.641 --> 00:44:14.276
And so i think so often we can feel disappointed in our life
00:44:14.276 --> 00:44:17.480
And go, god, you promised to redeem it.
00:44:17.480 --> 00:44:20.549
You can't bring this person back.
00:44:20.549 --> 00:44:22.518
You can't do all these things that were missing.
00:44:22.518 --> 00:44:24.887
And we lose sight of who god is and what he's done.
00:44:24.887 --> 00:44:28.791
So when we have the kingdom perspective to look, if i look
00:44:28.791 --> 00:44:31.894
At the grave, all i'm going to see is the grave.
00:44:31.894 --> 00:44:33.629
I'm going to see only things i've lost.
00:44:33.629 --> 00:44:35.197
God, you haven't redeemed this.
00:44:35.197 --> 00:44:37.600
My kid cried at his birthday again because his dad never
00:44:36.365 --> 00:44:39.668
Knew him as a ten year old.
00:44:39.668 --> 00:44:40.970
You know, you can look at all these things, and all you see
00:44:40.970 --> 00:44:44.106
Is the loss that haven't been redeemed.
00:44:44.106 --> 00:44:46.175
But if you look up-- yeah.
00:44:46.175 --> 00:44:47.943
And you look up to jesus,
00:44:47.943 --> 00:44:49.779
You say, god, i have known you deeper.
00:44:49.779 --> 00:44:52.114
I have known you more intimately.
00:44:52.114 --> 00:44:53.415
You have redeemed this.
00:44:53.415 --> 00:44:54.550
You have restored in this the joy of my salvation.
00:44:54.550 --> 00:44:57.953
You have been faithful.
00:44:57.953 --> 00:44:59.088
You have been kind.
00:44:59.088 --> 00:45:00.156
God is the restorer and redeemer of our souls.
00:45:00.156 --> 00:45:03.325
If we would only have the perspective to not look down at
00:45:03.325 --> 00:45:06.729
Our hurt, but look up to the hope that he offers and the
00:45:06.729 --> 00:45:10.432
Ways that he works miraculously in all of our lives.
00:45:10.432 --> 00:45:13.903
Right. and you know, our god is a god who suffered.
00:45:13.903 --> 00:45:17.439
Yes. a god who suffered.
00:45:17.439 --> 00:45:19.008
And we are made in the image of god.
00:45:19.008 --> 00:45:21.911
So we also get to suffer in in his narrative, not not our
00:45:21.911 --> 00:45:26.115
Narrative, in his narrative. right.
00:45:26.115 --> 00:45:27.683
But in joel it says, we will be restored the years the
00:45:27.683 --> 00:45:32.288
Locusts have eaten. yeah.
00:45:32.288 --> 00:45:34.123
And that restoration doesn't
00:45:34.123 --> 00:45:35.558
Mean we're restored to what was. it's gone.
00:45:35.558 --> 00:45:38.761
We get to be restored to what is and what is meant to be.
00:45:38.761 --> 00:45:42.898
And so releasing some of that control of of how, how do i
00:45:42.898 --> 00:45:47.770
Want this to be,
00:45:47.770 --> 00:45:48.771
How does it need to be like suffering is,
00:45:48.771 --> 00:45:51.273
Because it wasn't my vision of how my life was supposed to be,
00:45:51.273 --> 00:45:56.745
But what if it's supposed to be something else that god has
00:45:56.745 --> 00:46:01.350
That's far more beautiful for far more restored?
00:46:01.350 --> 00:46:05.087
Right? and we got to trust that.
00:46:05.087 --> 00:46:06.488
And it's his timeline in the end.
00:46:06.488 --> 00:46:09.525
You may feel like your life is so broken right now, and you
00:46:09.525 --> 00:46:12.628
May think that there's nothing that could restore joy or
00:46:12.628 --> 00:46:17.099
Restore beauty into your life again.
00:46:17.099 --> 00:46:19.435
And i want to encourage you if you are in that place.
00:46:19.435 --> 00:46:22.338
I have been there before.
00:46:22.338 --> 00:46:23.739
I have not been able to see past the pain, the deep dark
00:46:23.739 --> 00:46:27.543
Hole that i have been in.
00:46:27.543 --> 00:46:28.844
But on the other side of it, i can tell you that god redeemed.
00:46:28.844 --> 00:46:32.715
God restored, and he did so much in my heart and life
00:46:32.715 --> 00:46:35.818
Better than i could ever dream or imagine
00:46:35.818 --> 00:46:38.120
Because that is who he is.
00:46:38.120 --> 00:46:39.722
He is the healer.
00:46:39.722 --> 00:46:41.190
He is the restorer, and he is
00:46:41.190 --> 00:46:42.925
The redeemer in all of our lives.
00:46:42.925 --> 00:46:44.994
Your best days are not behind you.
00:46:44.994 --> 00:46:47.196
They are ahead of you because
00:46:47.196 --> 00:46:48.831
Heaven is ahead and hope is ahead.
00:46:48.831 --> 00:46:51.367
And do not listen to that enemy's lies that says that you
00:46:51.367 --> 00:46:54.770
Have nothing good ahead of you.
00:46:54.770 --> 00:46:56.205
There is always good ahead of you because of jesus and
00:46:56.205 --> 00:46:59.208
His goodness in your life.
00:46:59.208 --> 00:47:01.777
Something that i do that helps me go through it when we go
00:47:01.777 --> 00:47:05.514
Through it is, this is my one shot.
00:47:05.514 --> 00:47:08.884
Because one day we're not going to need faith. right.
00:47:08.884 --> 00:47:12.955
One day we're not going to need to hope.
00:47:12.955 --> 00:47:17.092
He's going to be obvious.
00:47:17.092 --> 00:47:19.261
You know, faith is the proof of what's unseen, right?
00:47:19.261 --> 00:47:22.531
But one day we're going to see.
00:47:22.531 --> 00:47:24.967
And i think this is my one shot
00:47:24.967 --> 00:47:28.270
To worship him through the pain.
00:47:28.270 --> 00:47:30.739
This is my one shot to love him through the mystery,
00:47:30.739 --> 00:47:35.110
Through the uncertainty
00:47:35.110 --> 00:47:37.179
Because one day it's going to be so obvious that no one's
00:47:37.179 --> 00:47:41.116
Going to pat me on the back. you know what i mean?
00:47:41.116 --> 00:47:43.285
There won't be, like, eternal rewards for it, because it'll
00:47:43.285 --> 00:47:46.455
Be as clear as day.
00:47:46.455 --> 00:47:48.190
But right now, it's my chance.
00:47:48.190 --> 00:47:50.559
Yeah. right.
00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:51.794
And i think when we frame it that way, you know, like you
00:47:51.794 --> 00:47:54.830
Talked about when it came to kingdom perspective, it makes
00:47:54.830 --> 00:47:58.667
You realize what we're all really talking about here is
00:47:58.667 --> 00:48:01.870
Just that hope of eternity. that hope which--
00:48:01.870 --> 00:48:04.974
That's why the angels can look down and be in awe.
00:48:04.974 --> 00:48:07.843
That man, they don't even see you and they're worshiping and
00:48:07.843 --> 00:48:11.714
They've got this faith.
00:48:11.714 --> 00:48:13.515
You know, we get to see you in all your glory, but they get to
00:48:13.515 --> 00:48:17.586
Worship you through their faith in knowing who you are through
00:48:17.586 --> 00:48:21.523
The spirit and having you on the inside of them,
00:48:21.523 --> 00:48:24.626
You know? yeah.
00:48:24.626 --> 00:48:25.828
Charles stanley always says god can't use a man
00:48:25.828 --> 00:48:28.430
Greatly until he's been broken. that's right.
00:48:28.430 --> 00:48:30.699
And so we think about that when we look at all of our lives
00:48:30.699 --> 00:48:33.335
That bad, hard things have happened to all of us,
00:48:33.335 --> 00:48:36.372
And yet there's there's something that we have
00:48:36.372 --> 00:48:38.474
Experienced with jesus that i would have never
00:48:38.474 --> 00:48:40.642
Experienced in my pain.
00:48:40.642 --> 00:48:42.244
And he's been so kind.
00:48:42.244 --> 00:48:43.545
And i've we've experienced a treasure that could have only
00:48:43.545 --> 00:48:46.915
Come through the hard. yes.
00:48:46.915 --> 00:48:48.550
And it's just a breaking down kind of. you know, paul talks
00:48:48.550 --> 00:48:51.720
About running the race, right?
00:48:51.720 --> 00:48:53.689
If you're an athlete, it's just a breaking down of your body
00:48:53.689 --> 00:48:56.558
And then a rebuilding of it, breaking it down and rebuilding
00:48:56.558 --> 00:48:59.661
It time and time again until you have the resilience and you
00:48:59.661 --> 00:49:02.865
Have the strength and you have the stamina.
00:49:02.865 --> 00:49:06.235
And if we look at it as, oh, that exhausts me, i think we're
00:49:06.235 --> 00:49:10.472
Going to miss out on so much of that joy that you're
00:49:10.472 --> 00:49:12.241
Talking about, right
00:49:12.241 --> 00:49:13.509
Faith, of what does it mean to run this race the way that
00:49:13.509 --> 00:49:17.079
God has called us to run it while we're on this earth?
00:49:17.079 --> 00:49:19.515
How do we steward the time that we're steward
00:49:19.515 --> 00:49:21.884
While we're living here?
00:49:21.884 --> 00:49:23.519
How do we continue to lean into that refining process through
00:49:23.519 --> 00:49:28.390
The tension of joy and with suffering?
00:49:28.390 --> 00:49:31.427
The truth is, suffering will always happen.
00:49:31.427 --> 00:49:34.163
Our world is not is not yet restored.
00:49:34.163 --> 00:49:36.498
We're not there yet.
00:49:36.498 --> 00:49:37.966
But i just want to maybe take a little bit of time and let's
00:49:37.966 --> 00:49:41.103
Just pray over people that are watching right now and just
00:49:41.103 --> 00:49:44.606
Wherever they might be suffering too, and that they
00:49:44.606 --> 00:49:46.642
Would receive what needs to be received.
00:49:46.642 --> 00:49:49.378
Yeah. amen.
00:49:49.378 --> 00:49:50.679
Holy father, we just thank you so much for, one, just community
00:49:50.679 --> 00:49:53.916
That we get to talk about these things and feel less alone.
00:49:53.916 --> 00:49:56.718
But, god, i just pray that you would be with whoever's
00:49:56.718 --> 00:50:00.189
Watching right now as you're stirring in them this this
00:50:00.189 --> 00:50:03.559
Feeling of being unseen or suffering alone,
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God, that you would give them a sense of your presence, that
00:50:05.994 --> 00:50:09.131
You would envelop them with who you are and remind them that
00:50:09.131 --> 00:50:13.035
You actually know exactly what suffering is.
00:50:13.035 --> 00:50:15.838
You've experienced it yourself.
00:50:15.838 --> 00:50:17.739
You've died to it so that we don't have to suffer as much.
00:50:17.739 --> 00:50:20.576
So god, we come to you, we come to you with all of it, and we
00:50:20.576 --> 00:50:23.645
Confess our frustrations and our anger.
00:50:23.645 --> 00:50:26.148
And we also trust that you will restore us to the place that we
00:50:26.148 --> 00:50:29.585
Need to be, not where we were.
00:50:29.585 --> 00:50:31.520
And so we bless you and we thank you.
00:50:31.520 --> 00:50:34.156
In jesus' name we pray, amen. amen.
00:50:34.156 --> 00:50:38.794
Connect with us on social media and let us know how
00:50:38.794 --> 00:50:41.163
Our team can pray for you.
00:50:41.163 --> 00:50:44.933
Stream full episodes of better together on demand.
00:50:44.933 --> 00:50:48.670
Go to bettertogether.tv
00:50:48.670 --> 00:50:49.872
To stream all of our latest conversations.
00:50:49.872 --> 00:50:52.674
♪♪
00:50:52.674 --> 00:50:52.674

Why Does God Allow Suffering? | Better Together Episode 1147

March 3, 2026 | S8 E1147 | 51:1

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