More reasons we suffer

OLIVIA   I had my 3-month examination, complete neurological, & my surgeon said that he had not seen anyone my age or even 60 recover so well. To God be the glory! He took off the metal brace I wore for 3 months & I have a more comfortable one now. While I was there Casa had a hailstorm. One of our older boys will have surgery Saturday morning on his broken nose. Two sexually abused young teenage sisters arrived. #21 and #22 this month. Walter came & we had an excellent meeting. He is still badly bruised & has torn ligaments but is recuperating.   I shared that suffering does cause you to either quit and feel sorry for yourself or buckle up and keep going regardless of the situation. But we do also suffer because of personal sin. Hebrews 12:5-10 reminds us that God is a loving Father Who disciplines us to keep us from going astray or even further into the depths of hell. We are saved by grace but that does not give us a license to continue to live the old life. Salvation is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card. We cannot come to Jesus and then forget Him from that point on. Our sins are forgiven but suffering is still part of the human experience. 50 years ago Dottie and I buried our first cild who was only 11 months only. She had a devastating heart disease and it almost destroyed Dottie and me. The deaths of the next two of our children almost destroyed our marriage. The pain of losing Misty, Michelle and Jonathon was a pain we had never experienced. I did not feel as though I deserved the suffering and I truly believed that Dottie, my perfect wife, did not deserve such suffering. In time we would learn that we were not such great Christians. We had to look honestly at ourselves. However the first thing that happened were hundreds of women across Louisiana, western Mississippi and eastern Texas began to call, to write and even to visit Dottie to get help. Most had buried one child and they needed to understand how Dottie could bury 3 and still love God, blame no one and stay married to me. I cannot say how many lives Dottie touched and still is touching but it has been a large number. Suffering can bless you as well as destroy you. The choice is ours!!!