Like few times ever in my life the trials are abounding. They come in various sizes and shapes. Some are personal. Some are family health related. Some are related to Faith Community Church. Some are related to the Paradise community and especially our athletic programs plagued with a rash of injuries. What is of greater importance is the number of other people I see suffering.
Cancer abounds. Often the doctors say it is incurable. In the small community of Paradise it is astounding the number of people fighting cancer. I have never seen anything like it. On top of this, I see so many of our athletes suffering injury. In all my years of playing sports and supporting my kids I have never seen anything like it. Knee injuries. Concussions. Heart problems. Ankle injuries. Pulled muscles. Broken bones. All for a team trying hard to play for the glory of God.
No family I know has suffered more than the Jones and Fisher families from West Texas. Watching them face trial after trial, grief on top of grief, sorrow multiplied with other sorrows has left me bewildered and asking God why. Why has one family been forced to endure so much suffering? I hurt for them and find myself at a loss for words. Nothing I can say or write will take away the pain. Only God can heal and comfort their broken hearts. Only God can answer their probing questions of why and why He did not intervene to stop the cycle of disease, accidents, and deaths in such a short span. All I know to do is to love them and lift them before the Father.
I am thinking of a single mother fighting breast cancer. She lost her job and insurance because she missed work so much getting treatments. She had to move back home with her parents. The trials were already abounding enough in her life just being a single mother without dealing with cancer and the loss of her job and insurance.
I am thinking of the many people I know facing financial trials because of the down turn in the economy especially related to the oil field and farmers. The trials abound for these families. Many have felt the pinch at work and others fear the loss of their jobs.
Where do I look for hope? I look to God's word. I find strength and hope from Phil 4:6-7, "Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." HCS
The only hope any of us has is to keep praying, keep pleading, keep interceding, and to keep trusting God to help in the trials. For the grieving that means asking God to comfort and heal broken hearts. For the financially strained that means trusting God for provision. For the ones fighting cancer that means trusting God for healing and to take care of loved ones.
I am writing this at a time when Faith Community Church has less than $150 in the bank. Yet ,I have never had more peace that I am supposed to be here. I have more peace that God will come through for us again. Over the past two decades I have seen Good do numerous financial miracles many of which I have recorded on these blogs. At a time when things look bleak I have more peace that God is doing a great work in this church. I am excited for our future and the vision God keeps unfolding to me. Even with less than $150 in the bank I am able to sleep soundly at night. Thoughts of panic do not grip my heart. The peace of God triumphs. No matter what happens I know God will not forsake me. That does not mean that things at times cannot go from bad to worse. Many of you can testify of this fact in our own lives. I still choose to trust God and His peace literally is sitting guard over my heart and mind.
That is where Satan love to attack. Seeds of doubt creep into our thoughts. Our emotions deceive us. But when we lay it all before the throne of God and leave it with Him, His peace triumphs in us even when the trials are abounding.
As I stand in the gap for many people fighting cancer I have God's peace. As I watch people in my flock suffering from various things, I trust God on their behalves to intervene. I trust God to help, comfort, provide, rescue, deliver, heal, and protect.
Everywhere you look trials are abounding, but if you walk with God and trust Him, peace can triumph all the more. Jesus, please flood the hearts of the suffering with your peace that no man can manufacture, no self-help philosophy can create, and nobody can explain. I ask for Your peace to triumph over every single trial. In Jesus name, amen.
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