Daily Prayer - A graduate student in the School of Disappointment

Good Wednesday morning, my friends.

While I was putting together yesterday's message about endurance and perseverance there were a couple of people foremost in my mind.  These are people I know who have been living this message, in some cases for years.  One of them was kind enough to share her thoughts with me, and she has graciously given me permission to share them with you:

When [pastor] Shawn first taught us about "Giving thanks in all things," and "considering it all joy" I thought he was asking just a bit too much. Then I started to think about my own troubles. In a flash I saw how God had reconciled every bit of suffering I had had, if not directly then indirectly. By "indirectly" I mean the times my troubles weren't resolved but nevertheless they allowed me to handle some future situation, personal or in my counselling of others, in a godly way.

That, in itself, is enough to give thanks for. When I awoke from my coma I realized I had to thank God for that too, and wondered how on earth I could manage it. But obedience has to be an all or nothing thing. I can't obey God just when it suits me. He said to give thanks in ALL things. So I did. And suddenly I saw the way my family had come to help me, never once leaving my side while I was unconscious. They came and rejoiced when I awoke, leaving me certain of a love I had, for various reasons, never been too sure of before. So what began as an act of pure obedience ended up reaping a phenomenal reward.

That's the way God is, isn't He? He's an all or nothing God who asks us only to do those things that help us. Now, I give thanks as a matter of course, not because I'm a good person but because I am a SAVED person, thanks be to God.

My friend could indeed be called a "graduate student in the School of Disappointment" but you would never know it by her attitude of gratitude.  She continuously finds God at work in the suffering of her life and is a great encouragement to me.  And I pray she is for you too.

Amazing Grace and Eternal Peace be yours,
Bruce

I am no longer my own but yours,
Put me to what you will
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal

And now glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And this covenant now made on earth, let it be satisfied in heaven.

Amen

John Wesley

(http://www.wesleymission.org.au/christian_life/spiritual_help/prayers.asp)