It's a great blessing to see God's will at work. Being able to hear that several people were blessed by hearing how one person was carried by God through the darkness and how God has lifted that person out of a depth that was so deep that no humanly struggle would bring you out.
Christians love to quote Romans 8:28 "All things work together for good." and they stop there. Many seem to think that if we pray, seek God - everything will work out how we want. So many forget the last half and most important part of that verse, "for those who love God and are called according to HIS purpose." His purpose, not ours. Our purpose would be no pain, no suffering, nothing ever going wrong, but God allows us to go through events in our lives that my seem terrible and serve no purpose but to cause some sort of suffering. We may never know what God's purpose is in our struggle.
God can use every part of our lives, even the most painful, trying times. A friend I went to high school with recently won her battle with breast cancer. During her struggle and through out her chemo treatment, God showed us the strength he provides to the weak. Now God is using her to comfort other women as they go through this horrible time in their lives. She has sat in the doctors waiting room, crying with them. Her experience now serves a great purpose, God's.
Years ago I worked for a private ambulance company in Chicago. Most of what we did was transport non ambulatory patients to and from their doctors appointments, dialysis, and home from the hospital. We also did many psychiatric patient transports. One of these runs has always stuck with me. When we arrived at the ER, we were told we had a young woman that was severely depressed to the point of wanting to commit suicide. She was in an isolation room with her wrists and ankles in restraints for her own protection. We were there to transport her to a state run psychiatric hospital on the Northwest side of the city. As my partner and I often rotated responsibility for patient care on our runs, it was my turn to sit in back and monitor the patient during this call. The transport was going to take about forty five minutes due to traffic. I remember as we loaded her into the ambulance, the fear in her eyes.
As we talked, I found out why she was so fearful and was able calm her fears and let her know I understood how she felt. I have battle depression for years and often suicide was on my mind. God used those events in my life to help relate to this young woman and let her know that at least one person understood and showed compassion. By the time we arrived at the hospital, she was no longer wanting to hurt herself. We were able to have her walk into the facility. That I considered a small miracle.
Sometimes God uses events to teach us. Sometimes God uses events and struggles and trials we have gone through to teach others even though we may not know it at the time. Think of it this way - Everything we go through is a piece in this giant, perfect puzzle that God has designed and only he knows what the big picture looks like.
Christians love to quote Romans 8:28 "All things work together for good." and they stop there. Many seem to think that if we pray, seek God - everything will work out how we want. So many forget the last half and most important part of that verse, "for those who love God and are called according to HIS purpose." His purpose, not ours. Our purpose would be no pain, no suffering, nothing ever going wrong, but God allows us to go through events in our lives that my seem terrible and serve no purpose but to cause some sort of suffering. We may never know what God's purpose is in our struggle.
God can use every part of our lives, even the most painful, trying times. A friend I went to high school with recently won her battle with breast cancer. During her struggle and through out her chemo treatment, God showed us the strength he provides to the weak. Now God is using her to comfort other women as they go through this horrible time in their lives. She has sat in the doctors waiting room, crying with them. Her experience now serves a great purpose, God's.
Years ago I worked for a private ambulance company in Chicago. Most of what we did was transport non ambulatory patients to and from their doctors appointments, dialysis, and home from the hospital. We also did many psychiatric patient transports. One of these runs has always stuck with me. When we arrived at the ER, we were told we had a young woman that was severely depressed to the point of wanting to commit suicide. She was in an isolation room with her wrists and ankles in restraints for her own protection. We were there to transport her to a state run psychiatric hospital on the Northwest side of the city. As my partner and I often rotated responsibility for patient care on our runs, it was my turn to sit in back and monitor the patient during this call. The transport was going to take about forty five minutes due to traffic. I remember as we loaded her into the ambulance, the fear in her eyes.
As we talked, I found out why she was so fearful and was able calm her fears and let her know I understood how she felt. I have battle depression for years and often suicide was on my mind. God used those events in my life to help relate to this young woman and let her know that at least one person understood and showed compassion. By the time we arrived at the hospital, she was no longer wanting to hurt herself. We were able to have her walk into the facility. That I considered a small miracle.
Sometimes God uses events to teach us. Sometimes God uses events and struggles and trials we have gone through to teach others even though we may not know it at the time. Think of it this way - Everything we go through is a piece in this giant, perfect puzzle that God has designed and only he knows what the big picture looks like.
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