Friday, November 22, 2013

Thank You For Suffering

I will conclude my series on "Thank You" with a message I have entitled "Thank You For Suffering." To be more specific it should be titled: "Thank for the Suffering in My Life." Whew, that makes it a bit more personal. Is it truly possible to thank God for the suffering that is in your life?

On Sunday, we will learn "Why" and "How" we can say "Thank You for Suffering." I pray you will be with us this Sunday; I truly believe the message will make a difference in your life. It has been said that you are either headed toward a time of suffering, in the midst of suffering, or coming out of a time of suffering. Most people know the reality of that statement through personal experience. As we learn the truth of Scripture we will be able to thank the Lord for what is a common event for each of us...suffering.

My prayer is that you will go home on Sunday KNOWING that you can REJOICE in your suffering (Romans 5:3).

Here is something I came across in my study that reveals the value of suffering in our lives.

Beaten Into Higher Value
A bar of steel is worth five dollars. When it is wrought into horseshoes, it is worth ten dollars. If made into needles, it is worth three hundred and fifty dollars. If wrought into penknife blades, it is worth thirty-two thousand dollars. And if it is wrought into springs for watches, it is worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

What a drilling the poor bar must undergo to be worth a higher value. But the more it is manipulated, the more it is hammered, and passed through the fire, and beaten and pounded and polished, the greater the value.

Those who suffer most are capable of yielding most; and it is through pain that God can get the most out of us.

From: Streams in the Desert


Learning to Rejoice even in Suffering,
Pastor Mike

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