Monday, March 1, 2021

Suffering

A dear missionary friend of mine wrote the below and it was so good I had to share it on every avenue available.  Thomas and Laura Scherer along with their two children serve in Southeast Asia in a village tucked in the jungle.   



Oh! To be like Jesus! Well . . . mostly.

For about two years I’ve been thinking a lot about suffering. That may sound morbid, but life is full of suffering no matter where you live in the world, so I figure I’d like to think well about it. Suffering is so multi-faceted, but one type of suffering I’ve thought about is the suffering believers experience. For a true Jesus follower, suffering is kind of one of the promises/guarantees given to us, repeated over and over.
It’s easy to pick and choose the nice parts of scripture. It’s easy to say, “Make me like Jesus! He was patient, he was loving, he was kind, he was gracious! I want to be like that!” But I’m not prone to say, “He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. I want to be like Jesus in that way!”
Two years ago I was reading a book by Joni Eareckson Tada, and she talked about her suffering. (when that woman talks about suffering I listen!) She talked about how when we suffer, God is so good to use it to conform us to the image of His Son, and we benefit. We also benefit because we know Him better because of the suffering. But what Joni wrote next really stopped me (like I couldn’t read again for 2 weeks!). She said that when we suffer and know God better, that is not what it means to suffer like Jesus suffered. Jesus suffered so that OTHERS could know God better! I’m not kidding when I say I didn’t pick up this book for a solid two weeks! How I wrestled with God! It’s one thing to go through hardship knowing I’ll be better for it. But what if the only benefit of my suffering is the blessing of another?
It was towards the end of May 2019 when I finally said, “Ok God, I mean it, make me like Jesus in EVERY way. I’ll suffer if it means others will know You better.”
God’s timing is so precious, because the rest of 2019 was a whirlwind of hardships for our family. It was like God stripped everything away so that the only thing left was Jesus. Psalm 73 became my filter for how I saw life, verses 16-17 especially, “When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight, until I came into the sanctuary of God.”
With everything stable and familiar and certain stripped away, we found out that what God said was true. In His presence there is fullness of joy, at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore! (Ps. 16:11)
Have you ever watched a really great movie, and you can’t help but talk about it? And you want others who haven’t seen it to see it, so that they can enjoy it as much as you have. That’s a super simple way to explain how we feel about being God’s kids and having a relationship with Him. The joy we know because we’ve walked with Him is seriously nothing like this world can offer! Thomas often says, “The bitter makes the sweet all the sweeter.” We would not savor our Lord like we do today had it not been for the privilege to walk through some really hard things.
So we rejoice in our sufferings, because He gives it meaning. And we pray that the treasure we have found in Him would shine through us towards others as we ask our Lord to give us the strength and the grace to walk like Jesus walked, in every way.

10 comments:

  1. What a powerful and moving message, Betty. May we all have the strength and grace to walk like Jesus no matter what we are going through. Thanks so much for sharing this inspiration!
    Blessings!

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    1. Nothing better then sharing about folks we know well serving in the tribes. This couple will be coming home for another furlough soon and it is well needed. They have been there 10 years, have one couple and two single gals working with them. Thanks for commenting.

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  2. You're so right, friend. Sometimes we are so struck by raw truth that we have to quiet ourselves, walk into it, and discover what God is inviting us to ...

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    1. You explained this missionary women heart well. Her husband nearly died last year, spend several weeks in Australia getting over an infection. Along with that they have suffered some disappointments along the way. Thank God there is good leadership there and after hearing their hearts they will be coming out to the city and spending the rest of their time till their furlough helping out on the support center. It was exactly what we thought they should do also but to hear it from leadership puts a stamp of approval on it. Missionaries are not use to sharing deep struggles out in the open so the load gets heavy and because of that the enemy has a field day with their minds. Pray for them please. Their names are Thomas and Laura Scherer, two children.

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  3. I remember years ago singing a solo in church called "Whatever it takes for my will to break, that's what I'd be willing to do..." And when I sang it I had NO CLUE what I was saying...I was a young wife of a young pastor who was still in seminary...we had three young sons. Over the years following that I learned what it meant to be willing to allow God to break my will...there were many heartaches over the years, including the worst of all, losing one of our precious sons to cancer at the age of 41. But through it all Jesus became sweeter and sweeter, and I truly learned to trust Him more and more. I am thankful we didn't go through that death when I was that young wife so many years ago...I was not ready for that...but over time, as God shared more and more of His life with me, I grew in faith and trust. I pray that God will use those lessons and sufferings to help others who have such sorrows come their way. There were many dear ones who have ministered to me through the years, and it was because they had walked similar roads before me. thank you for this timely and wonderful message. I will pray for this missionary family.

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  4. thank you Pamela for your prayers. Everytime we sit down with a couple or a single person heading out to the country you want to warn the of the suffering they will have . But I am glad we were a little more mature before we got our first warning about stepping out in faith. Like you, I am not sure I would have done well in those early years of my faith. Not that I believe all would be rosy but there was a such a newness to the life with Christ in it that I often thought I can handle anything. Not true. without Him I am nothing, without Him I'd surely fail. I sang that song in my early years not knowing all it would require of my soul to understand it more fully. I would not trade one little trial for what I know now, it was worth is all to see Jesus.

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  5. Wow...what a powerful message. Your friend is an incredible woman of God! Thank you for sharing, Betty!

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  6. They are a young couple with two children, one soon to be a teen which will change their ministry for them. We are thankful they will be willing to change when the time comes.

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  7. Thank you for sharing your friend's article. Every heart certainly bears its own sorrow, and no two crosses are the same. Sometimes the load gets beyond heavy, and it is hard to carry it one more step. So thankful Jesus walks beside each one of us and picks the heavy end when we stumble underneath its weight.

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  8. Good reminders Cheryl, you have testified of some of the sorrow you have carried yet you still continue to praise Him and look for ways to give Him glory. I applaud your strong faith, all need to hear what you have to say.

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