Suffering....

Reading for my Sunday School lesson for next Sunday and already and thinking about those that did have the tornadoes come their way....

"Suffering is a part of life. By the time we become adults, we all have suffered great pain. We all have had to deal with the questions, 'Why did this happen?' or 'How could this happen to me?' Answers to these questions are often complex and unsatisfying. We struggle to find ways to make sense of our lives. This struggle can lead us to blame other people, or even God, for bringing suffering into our lives. We can become bitter and turn away from our faith. Or we try to create our own faith by taking what we like best from different religions. Either way, struggling to find answers to the why and how of our suffering can lead us away from the presence of God, which is our only comfort."

"The good news is that love runs deeper than our pain. James knew this. That is why he says, 'Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray (Jms. 5:13).' Prayer is our direct link to the person of God, not simply the idea of a god who might answer our prayers, but the person of God who empathizes with our pain and walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. When we pray, God does not simply give us advice or rescue us from a difficult situation. He grants us His very presence so that we can sense His reality, even in the darkest of times. Prayer is the path God walks to get to us. He will never force himself on us. We must open the path. If we do, He will come to us every time, without fail. James tells us to pray when we suffer because the answer to suffering is not an explanation as to why suffering happens, but comfort in our time of suffering. If we are cold, we don't need a weatherman to explain weather patterns; we need a blanket. If we are hungry, we don't need a biologist to explain hunger pains; we need food. When we suffer, we don't need to know why; we need to know God's presence."

~written by Jim Moretz