Category Archives: Suffering

What’s your name?

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This winter the Midwest has been short on snow. Though last year we’d had 50″ by this date, so far this year we’ve seen less than 8”…. until today.

Weather MapLast night a blizzard headed our way, starting to make snowy deposits on our neighborhood exactly when the iPhone weather app predicted: 8:00 pm. Heavy snow fell all night, and as I write, it’s been snowing all day, too. Predictions are for continued snow overnight until we’ve reached a grand total of 15”-18”.

TV’s weather channel tells us this snowstorm has been given a name: Linus. Last week’s severe blizzard in New England also had a name: Juno. So, in addition to naming hurricanes, apparently we’re naming snowstorms now, too. We might as well name earthquakes, tornados, typhoons, and tsunamis. Giving each a name might help us keep them all straight: “Remember Linus? He was a doozy, but wasn’t he gorgeous?”

And then, as long as we’re naming storms, maybe we should name our personal storms, too. That might help us better recall our own histories. We could say, “I remember ‘Ethel.’ Boy, she was a wild one, wasn’t she?” Or, “I’ll never forget that ‘Ichabod.’ He nearly finished us off, but we made it through!”

More coming downI think often about the storms of life. All of us know we gain more wisdom during difficult times than easy ones, but living through them is something else again. If given the option, we’d never choose all the trouble that comes to us, despite acknowledging that once we’re on the other side of it, we’ve learned a few things.

I wonder if God names the life-storms he allows to come to us. If he does, their titles are probably something like, “Victory over addiction,” or “Opportunity for Patience,” or “Triumph against Self-centeredness.” Surely if we could see our struggles not just as obstacles-to-get-past but opportunities-to-grow, we could live through them with less fretting and more anticipation.

FullSizeRenderMeanwhile here in Southwest Michigan, as Linus continues to pour down on us, we’ll try to appreciate his beauty. We can also enjoy the chance to hone our driving skills and build new muscles from lots of extra shoveling.

“When troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.” (James 1:2)

Heartbreaking News

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God’s will is not always easy to accept, and today’s turn of events fits into that difficult category.

My sister Mary had a full body scan to check for any recurrence of pancreatic cancer, and tonight we learned the devastating truth: this vicious disease has returned and is now on her liver and in her lungs.

Doctors don’t recommend additional chemotherapy, since it would have to be so strong that its side effects would be nearly unbearable. Tonight Mary seems at peace with that. She said, “I just plan to make every single day count.”

It’s been a long, tearful day for all the Petersons. Mary admitted that her low point was having to communicate today’s findings to their 7 children and families because… “it’s awful to be the cause of your children’s suffering.”

Yesterday when she was at my house, we talked about today at length. She said, “The verse dominating my thoughts is Isaiah 26:3 – ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace who’s mind is stayed on Thee.’ ”

This is a watertight promise from God, and as she repeatedly claimed it last night, he gave her that peace in the form of a good night’s rest.

Now the Lord has given her a new verse, one that isn’t nearly as easy to own. True to herself and to her Lord, she said, “All of us, including your blog readers, prayed for God’s will, and today he answered our prayers by showing us what that was. I know he didn’t cause my cancer, but he has decided to allow it. Tonight his word to me is ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice,’ so I’m going to try to do that.”

This was said through tears, but it was, indeed, said.

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“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Mary and BervinPraying with Mary, Bervin, and their Family:

  1. Pray for this difficult adjustment period to their sad news
  2. Pray for the grand- children, that their faith will grow, despite God not answering their prayers for their grandma as they’d hoped
  3. Pray for God’s peace to flood each heart, right in the middle of this heartbreaking news

The Upshot of Shots

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New babyWhen newborns come into the world, they arrive with a clean slate which usually includes freedom from disease. We parents immediately jump in to keep it that way by yo-yo-ing back and forth to the pediatrician until our children virtually hate their doctor. That’s because every appointment includes a vaccination.

All 7 of our kids had the same pediatrician, a wise, gentle man we grew to love as a personal friend. The kids would ask, “Am I having a shot today?”

And he’d say, “No. Just a vaccination.”

Splitting medical hairs didn’t do much to cheer them, but by kindergarten, 99% of all needle-visits were over. The upshot of all their shots was freedom from the painful diseases former generations had to experience.

VaccinationsAs for me, I went decades without any shots, but the upcoming illnesses of old age are just ahead, and new vaccines can prevent some of them. One malady I’d like to avoid is shingles, a painful skin rash that can hang on for months.

Even though doctors are promoting the vaccine for folks over 60, it’s not 100% effective. But a vaccinated person who does get shingles won’t suffer the same intensity of pain.

Mom had shingles the year before she died, and nothing could soothe the fiery pain on her neck and scalp. Shingles can even travel into ears and eyes, causing permanent damage. So I decided to roll up my sleeve and take my poke.

Too bad there’s not an inoculation for sorrow and heartache. We could all bop through life wearing big grins, and worries would be a thing of the past. No more middle-of-the-night anxieties or games of what-if. Happy thoughts would dominate, and contentment would be much easier to find.

The only problem would be our numbness. Being protected from the negatives would mean being deadened to the positives, too. If we couldn’t feel sadness, how could we feel happiness? Each human emotion needs its counterbalance.

On the day Nate died, all of us suffered raw pain. But would we rather not have had him at all? No, because that would have eliminated thousands of joy-filled days.

Thinking of this dilemma in a biblical way, if we were able to opt out of sorrow, we’d miss God’s special promises to the brokenhearted. If we didn’t experience affliction, we’d miss his deliverance. If we didn’t suffer guilt over sin, we’d never know the relief of forgiveness.

Even Jesus wasn’t inoculated against sorrow. If he hadn’t willingly been crushed for us, we wouldn’t now have access to spiritual healing.

So, if a vaccination against heartache did exist, we probably shouldn’t get in line for it. Just think of the counter-balancing blessings we’d have to miss.

Jesus said, “You may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)