Slow Mo: Overcoming Difficult Circumstances – Friday
James 1:12
Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. (MSG)
I sat across the table from a man who had become a friend. Almost a year to the day earlier, his wife had received the difficult diagnosis of cancer. I didn’t know them then but I was asked to call and see how we might help. That conversation led to several visits to their home where I would pray for the treatment just received, and treatments still to come. I enjoyed getting to know them, and their two dogs. We had meaningful conversations and prayed more. There was progress, then setbacks along the way. Eventually, there was rapid decline, and about 6 months after the diagnosis, she died. I was able to see her briefly just before she passed. We talked about the hope of Heaven. It was an honor to do her funeral.
As I sat across the table from him, he shared with me that the one-year anniversary of his wife’s diagnosis just two days earlier was devastating in yet another way. A technician mistakenly left a gate to his backyard open and his dogs got out. Those dogs, who were loved by my friend and provided comfort during his wife’s illness, were both killed a short time later on Harrodsburg Road right down from Southland’s Nicholasville Campus. My friend spoke of being heartbroken, with all the emotions of loss coming back to the surface again. But he said he forgave the young man who left the gate open and made sure that the young man’s boss, the owner of the company, knew that. He talked about hearing a message at Southland the Sunday before about forgiveness. I said, “Only your faith and Jesus could help you make that kind of decision.” He agreed.
We’ve been talking this week about how God will most often use challenges to grow us. For some reason, that’s when God reveals Himself in distinct ways. We’ll know we’re growing if we can finally realize that our faith doesn’t prevent challenges, or help us avoid them, it guides us through them.
Friday’s Reflection
My prayer this week is that our daily devotions have given you a helpful perspective on life’s difficulties. We’re not doing our job as a church if we’re not helping people know what to do with pain and discouragement. Let me know if there’s any way I can encourage you.
