2 Corinthians 4:17
I ran across this quotation years ago, and it has helped me many times: "God has revealed many truths which He has not explained. We will just have to be content to let Him know some things we do not and take Him at His Word" (B. A. Copass).
Warren Wiersbe, in his book, Why Us? When Bad Things
Happen to God’s People, tells of a dear friend whose husband had gone blind. The blindness was followed by an incurable disease; then the woman had a stroke which forced her to retire. They had many friends, but no children.
One day, Wiersbe attempted to encourage her by saying, "I want you to know that we’re praying for you."
She replied, "I appreciate that. What are you praying for God to do?"
Wiersbe writes: "When people are suffering, you pray for healing (if it’s God’s will), for strength, for special mercy in pain, and so on; and this is what I told her."
"Thank you," she said, "but please pray for one more request. Pray that I won’t waste all of this suffering."
Then Wiersbe observed, "For the first time in my ministry, it struck me that our times of suffering may become times of investment, if we learn how to pray about them."
Charles Swindoll has said, "God’s hand is in your heartache. Yes, it is! If you weren’t important, do you think He would take this long and work this hard on your
life?"
The lesson? Be sure that, regardless of what you may be going through, the suffering is not wasted!
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com