“Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering…. The love of God did not protect His own Son…. He will not necessarily protect us – not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.”
Elisabeth Elliot
(Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II / image borrowed from the web)
Elizabeth has had them….
She’s actually had what she referenced as an annus horribilis
An entire bad year…
Churchill had them…
just mention the word Gallipoli
Eddison had them…
think electric chair
David had them…
think plotting to have someone killed just to cover up your own bad choices…
As it just seems to get worse and worse…..
Joseph had them…
think betrayal by your own brothers…
Paul had them…
as it took three days of blindness to figure it out that raging murderous ways were not
the best use of ones talents.
Peter had them…
something about crowing roosters
Einstein had them…
A Nobel Prize winner actually failed his college entrance exam
Louis Zamperini had them…
think plane crash, 47 days in a life raft and over 2 years as a POW
FDR had them…
one word…polio
Indeed, we’ve all had them…
bad days,
bad weeks,
bad months,
bad years,
bad turns,
bad runs,
bad lives…
Times we would just rather forget.
Times we wish we could ask for the re-do or the re-start
Times we found unbearable, insurmountable and devastating…
Times we thought we’d not survive…
The thing is we will all face them…
bad times,
hard days,
difficult periods in our lives.
Some will seem endless as others will seem to be the end of us…
It will not be a matter of when they come…
because they will come whether or not we are ready, prepared or armed…
The important thing will not be what they do to us,
But rather what we do in spite of them…
Will we be beaten?
Giving up,
Lying down,
Rolling over,
Giving in…
growing bitter
resentful
resigned
hateful…
Or will we come out of it…
better,
stronger,
wiser,
kinder
even more courageous than before….
Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9
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