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Suffering produces endurance5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() We grow to know the grace of God like we’ve seen in 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, his strength in our weakness. And we grow to know the comfort of God like we’ve seen in 2 Corinthians, chapter one. It’s a call to endurance, but that endurance produces character. Growing In the Comfort of God Even in The Midst of Pain That’s a good way to describe life in a world of suffering. The Bible calls them in Revelation chapter one to patient endurance. I think about Revelation, chapter one written to suffering brothers and sisters in the first century. This is a picture we see all throughout the Bible. Why? Because we know that suffering produces endurance. So in light of that, verse three of says, “Not only that, we rejoice in our sufferings.” We rejoice in the hope that one day we will be with Him. We’ve been reconciled to God and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Now we have peace with Him and we rejoice in Him. So how is it possible to have joy in that?Īnd the Bible says right before this that by faith we’ve been justified before God. We are called to endure knowing that our hope in Christ will not put us to shame.Īll throughout Scripture we see suffering men and women who are experiencing the effects of sin and hurt and pain in a fallen world, sometimes directly due to sin in their lives, sometimes not, in a Job-like away, not directly due to sin in our lives. ![]() Romans 5:3–5 Reminds Us that even in the midst of pain of suffering, we see God refining us. No, that’s not at all what the Bible’s talking about here or anywhere else. Like verse three, “We rejoice in our sufferings.” That does not mean when we go through suffering, hurt, pain, we just kind of put a smile on our face, pretend the pain isn’t real and try to gloss over at all. I in no way want to take these verses lightly. What an otherworldly picture of suffering pictured in Romans 5:3–5. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” I can rejoice in my sufferings and thank God for his perfect wisdom and endless love! Romans 5:3-5 Now I know that if God can carry me through 3 1/2 months of torture, he will carry me through anything. I am not 100% itch free but SO much better. In suffering-I found great joy in the Lord and his presence. I grew closer to God and am thankful for the suffering as I learned to rely on him more. I leaned on the Lord every minute of every day to get through. I cried to the Lord for healing and begged him for mercy but it didn’t come in my time but in his time. I repeatedly read Job and remembered his suffering and strength. I didn’t know how I was going to get through the torture. I told my doctor it would have felt better to jump in battery acid. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t get a break from it, and was miserable. For 3 months I have been covered in a head to toe Beyond itchy rash/hives. ![]() It turns out – I am violently allergic to chemo. Well, three weeks turned into 3 1/2 months of an unbearable, torturous and intolerable rash. In my last post I had been itching for 3 weeks. Today I am reflecting on my journey thus far. Three trips a week that lasted all day with a 3 hour round trip has me quite exhausted. I haven’t wrote as much as I would have liked to. ![]()
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