Nobody willingly walks down the road to Calvary. There is no human being who has ever been eager to embrace the cross. This isn’t going to be a message or an article that gives you the warm fuzzies… I’m talking about suffering. I’ve been blogging for two years, and I hope you have confidence in my words, knowing that I will always speak the truth as I know it to be from God’s Word. My purpose in anything I write is to bring glory to God through writing about my daily experiences. When I say “embracing the cross,” I don’t mean loving and accepting what Jesus has done for you. Anybody can do that. I’m speaking about death – your death.
Sometimes (well, most of the time), through God’s mercy, we are forced to walk down the road to Calvary. It’s a road that speaks of genuine brokenness and a crushing of self, which is used to afflict the heart and conquer the mind . Your way of thinking and the dependence of the earthly things that bring you comfort are stripped away to make you learn who you really are. You learn that you have absolutely no control over your life… the loss of something you hold dear, something maybe you take for granted, something in your world that is so important. This could be any number of things, but because I lost my health, we’re going to talk about that.
I get it. I know why there are so many out there who don’t know what God says about suffering… “If everything is OK in my world, why should I even go there?” is a common thought among believers. Yes, it’s generally the way most (but certainly not all!) healthy Christians/Believers think. Even though I wasn’t a believer when I thought the world was at my feet, I pretty much thought the same. The death of my “perfect world” has caused me to find those treasures in the darkness God talks about…
“And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches.” Isaiah 45: 3
God has performed a spiritual heart transplant on me… and that spurs me on to be a voice for disabled/suffering people, who fall prey to others who claim to know Christ, yet can be so hurtful with the words they say. I think this best describes what I am trying to say, so I’ll quote this from Streams in the Desert (you know how I love this book…LOL) –
“Today many people are attempting to use their mental capacity and logical thinking to obtain sanctification, yet this is nothing but a religious fabrication. They believe that if they just mentally put themselves on the altar and believe the altar provides the gift of sanctification, they can then logically conclude they are fully sanctified. Then they go happily on their way, expressing their flippant, theological babble about the “deep” things of God.
Yet the heartstrings of their old nature have not been broken, and their unyielding character, which they inherited from Adam, has not been grounded to powder. Their soul has not throbbed with the lonely, gushing groans of Gethsemane. Having no scars from their death on Calvary, they will exhibit nothing of the soft, sweet, gentle, restful, victorious, overflowing, and triumphant life that flows like a spring morning from an empty tomb.” G.D.W.
This has been on my heart for a few days. Know I love you. And I just want to tell those with anything going on with your health… as long as you are surrendered to Jesus, you are exactly where He wants you to be. So please don’t pay any attention to what other “Christians” may say regarding your physical circumstance… You are being tried by fire, and if you hold on you will come out as gold!
“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” James 1: 12
