How Precious This Suffering

A year ago, if you were to tell me that God was going to test my faith and call me back to Him through suffering and sorrow and discouragement, I would have done anything to avoid what I am going through right now. However, in the midst of the storm, I instead have run to God and found a peace in suffering that I would not have found in serenity, in harmony, in joy, in love secure. Darlene Rose, a prisoner of the Japanese Army during WWII who suffered unspeakable torture and loss had this to say about suffering:

"There is a peace that comes after sorrow, of hope surrendered, not of hope fulfilled. Peace that looks not upon tomorrow, but calmly on a tempest that is stilled. It's a peace that lives not now in joyous successes, nor in the happy life of love secure, but in the unerring strength the heart possesses from conflicts won while learning to endure. It is a peace that is in sacrifice secluded, a life subdued from will and passion free. Tis not the peace that over Eden brooded, but that which triumphed in Gethsemane."

While I may never attain the kind of faith she had, I will continue to seek peace in my storm and pray that Christ will strengthen me and make me shine out brightly as a light for all who do not believe to see. An may they say, "I want to know the peace that she knows. I want to know her God." I pray that I will be able to do as Peter says in 1 Peter 4:16 ~ However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. As I crawl under my quilt tonight, I will Praise God and thank Him for all that He has taught me through this present suffering and I eagerly anticipate what's to come, for whether good or bad, it will be His plan and I will trust Him.