Thursday, March 8, 2012

created to suffer...

Have you ever known a soul that seemed to be created just to suffer? In my lifetime, I have known a few. Some of these sweet souls were born with seemingly unbearable disabilities or stricken with a terrible illness at a tender young age. Others were victims of child abuse & neglect. Then there are those I've met through books or documentaries. I feel as though I know them personally, but truly, I only know them through their stories. These sufferers include little children abducted by the LRA in Africa. The atrocities they have witnessed are unspeakable. Children have been brutally abused & left on the streets to beg. What about the orphans dropped off on a doorstep or placed in a dumpster? Perhaps their deformities made them unlovable to their parents.

Suffering has existed since Satan fell from Heaven. In  Bible times, people came to Christ with blindness, leprosy, bleeding, demons... These souls suffered illness that separated them from society. Like modern day sufferers, it wasn't just the disease but every issue that accompanied it: loneliness, pain, depression, hopelessness, low self- esteem, isolation, bullying, & the list goes on. Sometimes, we suffer because we bring disaster & unrest upon ourselves. Other times, we just seem to be born into bad circumstances. Suffering seems to be out of the sufferer's control. In most cases, he didn't ask to suffer, & the only control he can have is his response. Never mind the fact that he will continue to suffer, the question is, how will he respond? What will he do with his suffering?

In college, I had a class mate who suffered. He was born with no arms. He had small hands attached to his shoulders. He could use his misshapen hands to manage a few personal tasks. One day he spoke to my class. I was so excited because I wanted to understand his disability. I wanted to know his story, understand how it effected his life, & hopefully use it to help others. I wanted insight. I will always remember leaving the auditorium with a lump in my throat. His overwhelming message: I wish I'd never been born. This was more than I could bear. I felt so empty for him.

If we are a compassionate people, it just doesn't seem right that people are born to suffer? Really, how could a loving God create people to suffer, people like my college classmate that honestly wish they'd never been born? I've had it explained to me that our definition of loving does not compare to God's definition. Remember, yesterday, & tomorrow are just as close as today for Him. I've also been told that we are arrogant if we think we know better than God. I think it is that point that removed the lump in my throat. I (as a human) am just not capable of reconciling suffering with a loving God. I have to accept the fact that God loves us enough to let our lives, our human race be enriched by suffering. He loves us to much too give us lesser things (Blessings by Laura Story).

As Randy Alcorn puts it in his book (If God is Good)... A young boy once ingested poison. His Daddy called Poison Control & began his journey to the hospital. As they traveled, the father followed instructions. He kept slapping his young son in the face to keep him a wake. The boy was crying out, "Daddy, why are you hurting me?" The Father's only choice was to hurt his son to give him life.

3 comments:

  1. Susie,in my first year of teaching I had a student who also was born with no arms. He also had little hands at his shoulders. He was an amazing young man. He had a hook that fit on the longer hand. He didn't let that stop him from doing anything he wanted. He even played football but without the hook. He taught me more than I could have ever taught him.

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  2. Your blog today reminded me of a quote I heard once by C.S.Lewis. ""God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."
    For me that represents all of us, to be able to offer Christ's LOVE...HOPE...and PEACE in tangible ways.
    Susie, your blog is such a perfect example .
    God Bless you soul sister!

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  3. Mom & Marian, Thank you both for your comments, Sometimes I second guess my blogs & appreciate the encouragement. Mom, I don't know who you are, but want you to know that your comments throughout my blogs have been very uplifting. Your kind words are helping me heal. Thanks to both of you ladies for being a blessing to me. Love, Susie

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