Good morning…
“I have been wanting to respond,” she emailed me from South Carolina after yesterday’s post, Nuclear Bomb Of Depression. “And this morning everything bubbled up. However there are too many things, so I’ll list.”
- Can someone really know good if they have not experienced REAL pain and hardship? – Anne Frank
- I just returned from Japan where I stood in awe at the skull of Hiroshima. The Peace Memorial Site.
- The Japanese people know peace. They are not angry yet they experienced hell.
- The people want to make sure that this (atomic/nuclear bomb) never happens again.
- Anne Frank, people of Hiroshima and myself have experienced hell. All different types of hell.
- And God gave us the tools to navigate and the ability to move forward. To remember. Never to go back.
- Those who have never experienced pain, suffering and attacks really don’t know (or do they pretend).
- I’ve wondered, “Can you really know God if you have not experienced real suffering and pain?”
From her list of “too many things” bubbling up, which single bullet point captures your attention right now?
I wondered alongside her, “Can we really know God if we have not experienced real suffering and pain?” My own two years in hell, experiencing the hollow heaviness of deep depression, drew me into intimacy with the God who knows my name.
Very personally, I accepted the promise of Isaiah 45:2-3 (AMPC): I will go before you and level the mountains [to make the crooked places straight]; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut asunder the bars of iron. And I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, Who calls you by your name.
Suffering certainly has its benefits.
After pondering these thoughts a while, I looked up and saw this sight.
I texted these photos to this regular reader, whom I have never met.
“I thought of you and our conversation from this morning,” I wrote. “I lost a scripture card about a week ago. Our puppy Cami found it while she was doing her mischief. It goes perfectly with our learning about the benefits of suffering.”
We rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that
suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character
and character, hope.
– ROMANS 5:3-4
At some points along our lifetime, many of us will experience hell, all different types of hell. The darkness of depression may descend to bring us down to the very ground of our being. There in the darkness, God gives us secret treasures, unexpected tools to navigate the treacherous terrain. The living God calls us by our name, gifting us with the ability to move forward. To remember. Never to go back.
With perseverance, character, and hope, we are empowered by God to rejoice in our sufferings.
…Sue…
