Suffering

by Michele Boy | August 3, 2023

The pastor on Sunday mentioned suffering is good. Or I think I heard that. I was after fair tired and wanted some refreshment. But it turned out it was what I needed to hear. Sometimes suffering pushes us to do more. 
For the sake of small town and the public not knowing deeply personal things, i will use a more generic example. We bought a washing machine last year. It never worked as I had hoped but it got by. 
Over many months it got worse but in the long list of priorities, it wasn’t the highest so it didn’t get taken care of. In the last few weeks it has been awful. But with fair, again, it would have to do and we just washed and rewashed our clothes. Finally an error light came on and I was forced to deal with it. 
When the serviceman came, he gave a few instructions and again it seemed to work okay for him. We let the cycle finish and bam there it was again. Finally the issue would be dealt with. 
Can you relate? Do you just let things go? Do you just not deal with them until they boil to the surface? Maybe suffering is the only way we listen. When our lives are busy, going in ten directions, we neglect issues we don’t want to deal with. 
Sometimes we are confronted with them by sufferings. 
Do I wish that for anyone? No. Do I wish we all followed our dreams and handled our business at the beginning? Yes. 
But human nature doesn’t seem to work that way. Or at least my own. 
Sometimes suffering is a loud clanging bell saying please look at me. Please do something. Please make this stop. 
I look at my youth, at the crazy, stupid mistakes I made. And I imagine someone was watching wishing I could have traveled an easier path. 
But we have free will. We make our choices. We live with the consequences. And then the sufferings. Or maybe we take a good, bold, beautiful path and bypass that all. 
Is suffering the only way we listen sometimes?
It is for me. 
I have to get uncomfortable to change. 
Once upon a time I was so comfortable with a group of people. I was sure this is where I would be forever. 
 One night I had a dream I left the group crying. 
The next day, I met the group for coffee. 
For some reason I was incredibly uncomfortable. At the end of the get together, a woman took me aside and by the end I was in tears. God was moving me. Sometimes it is slow. Sometimes it is quick. So many times in the bible we hear God moved suddenly. Someone had been stuck for years and then suddenly!
  I am praying wherever you are, you look to God. You open your eyes to what He wants. 
And you embrace the discomfort to grow to what He wants you to be.
 Leo Tolstoy wrote,“True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” 
  After the the fair and the fair edition, I am ready for a little break! 
Enjoy your weekend!