As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.

Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.

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June 25 2015

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, thank you for the reminder about sorrows and suffering, and how we “get” to go through them. David and I talk and pray about how we try to avoid our human nature, and the sorrows and suffering that accompany our lives. But it seems that we cannot avoid the sorrows and suffering, can we? You do not save us from our difficulty You save us out of them. Is this the case? That You use our sorrows and suffering as the refining fires of our lives? It seems that You do not keep us from the sorrows and suffering, You make us stronger, more Christ like as a result of them.

And God says…”As a believer, everything that occurs in your life must pass by My review. As Paul said and Eugene translated Romans 8:28 (Message) … He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

“And James wrote …”Do not try to get out of your trials too early, let them have their perfect result. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, and I will make your paths straight. When you are surrendered and connected to Me, you are certain of the result, even though the outcomes may not be what you prayed for. Do not seek your own way, your ways are too limiting for Me. Open up and allow Me to be the Lord of your life, let me select the outcomes and trust Me to meet all your needs. Seek first the Kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and I will provide everything else that you need. Delight yourself in the Lord and I will give you the desires of your changed heart. And I will light your way only a step at a time, so that your faith may be strengthened one step to the next.”