Monthly Archives: October 2013

Honoring Those Who Serve to Protect Us

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Garrett has been on my mind a lot recently.  In less than a week, I’ll be headed to Fort Benning, Georgia to see him graduate from boot camp.  I am so proud of the choice he made to serve his country in the National Guard.  I’m trying to find the words to fully express the gratitude that I feel toward all the people who put their lives on the line everyday to protect you and me.  It takes special people to do this who truly have servant hearts.  We need to honor them in all they do.  We need to support their families while they are gone and give them jobs when they return.  I think the separation from family and friends is the most difficult part for them.  I can hear it in Garrett’s letters how hard it is for him to be away.  Boot camp is the first separation of many.  Communication only by letters isn’t enough. I miss Garrett’s smiling face and his uplifting voice saying “How’s it going?” on the phone.  But as he would also say, “It’s all good!”

I don’t think any of us really understand the sacrifice made by these servant warriors unless we have lost a loved one who gave it all to protect us.  We have a long lineage of courageous heroes who have sacrificed their lives and livelihoods for our freedom.  So many in the world don’t have this.  I think of my Egyptian patients who can’t practice their faith freely in their country for fear of reprisals.  Their government does nothing to protect them.  They have fled to America for the freedom to believe and practice their faith as they choose.  They are pharmacists, engineers, and teachers who cannot use these skills here because they are not licensed in the US.  So they work places like Meijer stocking shelves so their children can have a chance to know freedom.  This is the very freedom we experience daily but don’t appreciate because we have never had it threatened personally.

Think about it for a moment.  Where would we be if there weren’t patriots who were willing to risk everything by fighting the British to start our own country, free from being ruled by a king?  I shudder to think what the world would be like if the Allies hadn’t won WWII.  Hitler’s reign of terror would have continued unchecked.  We have Al Qaeda terrorist who now wish to destroy us but the unstoppable American spirit rises up and says NO!  Our adversaries  may have leveled the twin towers but they are far from defeating us.

Yes, I will hug Garrett when I see him, tell him how proud I am of him and thank him for what he is doing. Please don’t forget to thank a soldier, policeman or fireman for serving to protect you today.  Just think where we would be without them.

Recognizing the creator in us all.

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I find myself today on the last page of the journal I began almost 4 months ago.  After much pondering in Target as to which one I wanted, yesterday I purchased my next journal.  This may seem like a minor occurence but it’s really momentous for me.  You see, this is the first journal I have actually finished since I was in high school.  I have started and left many journals incomplete over the years mainly because I didn’t have enough time or rather, I didn’t set aside enough time to write.  What changed, you might ask?  Everything really.  I’ve had a total shift in how I visualize the rest of my life.  The things I thought were important earlier in my life have changed.  Not that what I focused on in the past was bad, but I now need to move on to a different stage of life.  I doubt that I would have made this move if I hadn’t been forced in a way.  Change is difficult and inertia keeps most of us where we are for fear of the unknown.  I am no different in this regard.  But I think God has another plan for me instead of continuing in the private practice of medicine for 10-15 more years.  He allowed me to paint myself into a work corner that was overwhelming then gave me a way out.  My present job is a gift.  I still get to interact with patients and other medical people but the pace is much more relaxed.  I have regained my sanity and my time.

I have been so time pressured for so long that initially I wasn’t sure what to do with the extra space I was given. I stumbled across a book through a series of God “coincidences”  that helped my focus.  It’s “The Early to Rise” book by Andy Traub who happens to be a native Hoosier and a Christian. At the time, he was hosting the podcasts for Andy Andrews but is now running his own business and writing full-time.  His book challenged me rise early and use this time to create.  His contention is that the early hours are our most productive time but most of us miss this opportunity because we are rushing out the door in the morning to our next scheduled activity.  I have shifted my schedule so I have an extra hour before I need to leave for work to read, to pray, and to write.  Initially I was concerned that I would be too tired to accomplish anything.  I really do have to force myself to start but once I do the ideas start to flow.  Very little of my journaling is anything close to profound but it helps me sort my thoughts through free writing.  This is a concept I learned from another great book, “Accidental Genius” by Mark Levy.  In free writing you just let your mind go and put on the page whatever thoughts you have without screening yourself for correct grammar.  You go back later to pull out the ideas you want to expand in further writing.  Through this method, a few good thoughts come out of my journal to become blog topics.  It’s really quite amazing.  I think this same method could apply to other forms of creativity.

Writing serves many purposes for me.  It helps me sift through ideas and thoughts to come to conclusions I wouldn’t have otherwise.  Writing holds me accountable since I feel more ownership of something I have written.  I lift prayers up in my journal and I can look back over them later to see God working to answer them.

Writing isn’t for everyone but I bet it would help many people even if they never shared a word with anyone else.  It is a creative outlet just like art.  We all have a bit of the “Creator” in us.  What other living creatures love to create but humans? The need to create is hard-wired into us.

So create! Do whatever your heart desires.  Writing is my creation but drawing has been in the past.  Who knows maybe I’ll start that again too.  How old was Grandma Moses when she started to paint?  I don’t know but I would guess much older than I am.  How do you choose what to create?  Look to whatever creative pastime you enjoyed as a child but gave up when you became an adult.  This will give you a place to start.  Carve out the time to begin creating whenever it works best for you.  Early morning just doesn’t work for some people. You might have to make some major changes for this to happen like I did.

I do often miss things from my past life, mainly patients who had become dear friends.  It is amazing though how many people I have run in to since I left practice.  We hug and generally cause a scene in whatever place we find each other.  Friends aren’t really lost even though we are separated by space and time.  I feel very strongly that God wants me to embrace this next stage of my life.  I am trying to watch and listen obediently so I can follow where He is leading. The journey has been very exciting so far.

 

Life Isn’t Easy

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Here are some thoughts from my cousin, Mona that I thought needed to be shared.
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Everyone will go through some hard times at some point (Just ask the Buddha). Life isn’t easy. Just something to think about…Did you know the people that are the strongest are usually the most sensitive? Did you know the people who exhibit the most kindness are the first to get mistreated? Did you know the ones who take care of others all the time are usually the ones who need it the most? Did you know the 3 hardest things to say are I love you, I’m sorry, and Help me. Sometimes just because a person looks happy, you have to look past their smile and see how much pain they may be in. To all my friends who are going through some issues right now–Let’s start an intention avalanche. We all need positive intentions right now. If I don’t see your name, I’ll understand. May I ask my friends wherever you might be, to kindly copy and paste this status for one hour to give a moment of support to all those who have family problems, health struggles, job issues, worries of any kind and just need to know that someone cares. Do it for all of us, for nobody is immune. I hope to see this on the walls of all my friends just for moral support. I know some will!! I did it for a friend and you can too. You have to COPY & PASTE this one, NO SHARE BUTTONS. Let the positive intentions go viral…

Eternal Perspective

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My grandmother used to tell us that she made it a point to never expect life to turn out good so when it didn’t, she wasn’t disappointed.  I don’t know if this attitude came from living through the Great Depression but it unfortunately colored her viewpoint for the rest of her life.  She definitely was a glass half empty kind of person and there was no convincing her otherwise.  If life took a good turn she was surprised.  In actuality, her life was quite interesting.  Grandma was a great story-teller and the wonderful tales of her youth are still burned in my memory.  The majority of life was really good for her but her low expectations got in the way of her seeing it.

I’ve seen it so often that perspective is limited by low expectations. But it’s also true that it is constrained by time.  If we see life as a journey with the bookends being birth and death then all our decisions are based on this time frame.  But what if we were to view life from an eternal perspective?  We certainly wouldn’t be hemmed in by time because the span of a lifetime would be miniscule compared to eternity.  Our earthy expectations would be greatly outweighed by heavenly expectations.  It would be freeing to see life this way.

This is what I think Jesus meant when He said, “You will know the truth and the truth with set you free.”   Believing the truth that Jesus died to wipe away the sin in our lives certainly does set us free.  However if we take that truth to heart, it will change our whole perspective on life.  We will see all of life from an eternal perspective.  Things that normally would bother us, don’t have meaning anymore.  They are minor bumps in the road when you see that life’s journey goes on forever.  This truth frees us to love more and live more.  We don’t have to worry about what we have or don’t have here on earth because we know that this earthly existence is not all there is.  We can be content with what blessings we do have here and be grateful.  Heaven will be so amazingly wonderful that the best earth has to offer will pale in comparison.

Now I know life can be hard and keeping an eternal perspective can be elusive when the worries of this world bear down on us.  I catch myself when stress levels are high, falling into a narrow view of my life again.  I give up my freedom for worry.  It’s hard not to be anxious when we remember 9/11 or see gunfire in places we thought were safe like our schools.  But remember the bigger picture. This is not all there is. There is an eternity of peace and safety where there will be no need for doctors because no one will be sick any more. I’m going to have to get a new job!  Maybe God will let me be a gardener in Heaven.  I would so enjoy tending flowers with the Master Gardener someday!  Yes, eternity will be lived out someday in heaven but it’s already begun right now here on earth if we can only have the eyes to see it. I wish I could have convinced my grandmother of this.  Life could have been so much richer for her if only she could have had an eternal perspective.

Finding the Beauty in Sound

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I’m sitting out on the small porch of the cabin we have rented at Pine Mountain in Kentucky, drinking the last of my coffee and writing in my journal.  It’s peaceful and quiet but yet it’s not.  There’s a chipmunk making a racket around the corner and then it scurries along the edge of the porch out into the yard.  Nuts are falling out of a tree nearby and if I listen closely I can even hear the leaves coming down too.  The wind is soft but it’s helping them add to the layer already accumulating on the forest floor.  Autumn is well on its way in Appalachia and the birds are singing their last hurrah before their southward journey. Ah, the beauty of sound.

I envy those who know the bird calls and can call back in return.  It’s like learning another language and I’ve never been good at that.  Once I was on a bird hike at Pokagon State Park with an expert, Bud Starling, who at the time wrote for the Indianapolis Star. He pointed out a group of crows who were being noisy and commented that they were probably harassing a sleeping owl that had preyed on one of their young.  As I’m thinking, “How could you know this,” as if on cue, the owl appeared in broad daylight with the crows pursuing it.  What a sight!  I could not deny, the man knew the bird’s language.

Listening and really hearing is a lost art. I miss so much most of the time by hurrying too fast or filling up my days with too much.  I don’t pause to notice the beauty of sounds.  Not just music but the roar of the ocean, the gentle patter of rain on the roof at night, or the purr of a cat.  I dreamed last night that I needed to communicate with someone who could not hear but I didn’t know sign language.  I remember feeling like I should know this but didn’t.  During the Women of Faith event this summer, the women doing sign language were standing just below where our group was seated.  They were so expressive as they signed for the hearing impaired women there.  I found myself captivated watching them.  There was beauty in each motion as they poured themselves into their task.  Their grace-filled signs were no substitute however for the magnificent sounds the rest of us were able to hear that day.

That experience reinforced in me the need to appreciate the gift of hearing and to learn patience with those who are impaired in this way.  Both of my parents are having more and more trouble with their hearing as they get older and I find myself becoming frustrated with them.  In reality, I am sure they are more frustrated than I am. They miss so many of the sounds out of their range, it is difficult for them to communicate sometimes.  Given my family history, I very well may be in the same situation they are in a few years.    I need to put myself in their shoes to appreciate their need for my understanding.

Yes, I am thankful that my physical capability to hear is not impaired presently. But I find that I still miss many important sounds because I simply don’t listen.  Perhaps there is just too much background noise in my world so I am not tuned into the sounds I really need to hear.  I have external ears to hear the things of the outer world but I also have internal ears to hear the things of the spiritual world.  I find myself not fully using either. Perception and intuition are the ears of the heart. It’s often not what a person says but how they say it that tells their whole story. These are the heart sounds that are often overlooked, the true meaning behind the words hidden to most.  I pray that God will open my ears so I can hear all that He has for me to hear but especially these sounds of the heart.  I must take the time to truly listen for them.

A Legacy of Faith

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As I was reading through the story “Look For the Face of Jesus,” I couldn’t help but wonder at the legacy of faith that Betty’s mom left to her.  Most of the time when we think of leaving a legacy, we assume this needs to be some great endeavor generally by someone famous in history such as Andrew Carnegie who left us a legacy of thousands of libraries dotting the United States. Or perhaps we would think of George Washington Carver who left us the legacy of hundreds of uses for the peanut, many of which are still used today.  These are admirable achievements for sure and of great value to society. However, I would guess that if I asked you who in your life left you a legacy that changed your path dramatically , it would not be any person famous by the world’s standards but it would be an ordinary person faithfully living out their values.

I think of the legacy of giving my parents have left to me.  I saw them as a child traveling to places far from our home to build churches for those people who did not have the knowledge or funds to complete them on their own.  I watched them give weekly to their own church even though when I look back I know we could have really used that money ourselves. My parents were small business owners and money was tight since most of their profit went back in to building up the business.  They tirelessly gave anyway.  I know that I value missions and faithful giving because I saw my parents not just telling me about giving but doing it themselves.

I remember a teacher that gave me the legacy of trustworthiness.  She was a safe person to confide in when my best friend was molested by her older sister’s husband and she was too afraid to tell her parents.  We knew that we could trust this wonderful woman to do what needed to be done to help a young girl in trouble. She had shown us what it meant to be trustworthy in everything  by who she was faithfully every day.

I remember an older man at my church who gave me the legacy of unwavering belief.  He was a research scientist at Eli Lilly and held many patents for discoveries he made in his career.  He avidly pursued knowledge in the academic world as well as in the scriptures.  He contended that the world was much too complex for a thinking person not to believe in a creator.  He would say that it was statistically impossible for the universe and everything in it to occur by chance.  He showed me that intellect could co-exist with belief in God as he stood firmly in his beliefs.

As it says in the Book of Hebrews, we have a great cloud of witnesses who have gone on before us.  They looked beyond the trials here on earth to a heavenly kingdom that could not be seen or touched but was real just the same.  Several of the witnesses of faith that have shaped my life through their legacy are still here on earth but many have passed on from this life to be with Jesus.  As with Betty’s mother, they watched for the face of Jesus in each person they encountered on their way until the time they would see Him face to face in their heavenly home. Those of us who have benefited from their example are left to carry on this legacy of faith.

 

 

       

Look For The Face of Jesus

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Another story by Betty Carpenter                                    

 
Look For The Face of Jesus
 
When we first moved to Indiana from Tennessee we lived in Franklin, Indiana not too far from the high school and the railroad tracks. My mother wasn’t working at the time so I always walked home from school for lunch. We didn’t have much money so it was a cost savings and a wonderful opportunity for me to eat one of my mother’s home cooked meals. Plus, she always took the time to sit with me just to talk. She was the biggest influence in my life and, I thought, she must have had a heart just like Jesus. She always had some Bible teaching she would refer to when I or one of my siblings had questions about what motivated her or why she did some of the things we didn’t understand.
 
One Saturday morning we had just finished eating our breakfast of bacon, eggs, gravy and my mother’s homemade biscuits she made each and every day. There was a knock on our door. My mother went to the door and there was a man standing there that had a bag tied to a stick which contained all his belongings. He was not clean, he was unshaven, he had long hair and had just gotten off the freight train that stopped a few blocks away from our house. That was his transportation from town to town. He explained all that to my mother and asked her if we had any food he could eat since he was hungry. So, my mother, having that heart like Jesus, told him to come in and sit at our table. Her homemade biscuits and gravy were cold but she insisted on heating them for him while she made him some fresh cooked eggs. As usual, my mother sat with him, in fact we all did, while he enjoyed his food. I don’t remember the topics of our conversation but, even at that time, I considered it somewhat dangerous but so thoughtful and non-judgmental of my mother to welcome this stranger into our home. I’ve never forgotten that experience. I know it was never a question in my mother’s mind whether or not to feed this hungry stranger. And, as always, this was another lesson from the Bible when he left to go on his way. She just looked at us and said, ―you never know when you might have an opportunity to entertain an angel.‖ As I thought about this I searched my Bible and found the scripture to which she referred in Hebrews where the author provides some practical rules for Christian living. (―Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.‖ Heb. 13:2) Then again in Matthew, Jesus tells us of rewards to those who serve without thought of reward. (―The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.‖ Matt. 25:42) Jesus refers to His brothers as strangers— sick, in prison, hungry, thirsty, and needing clothes .
 
So, you might ask, what does all this have to do with the title of this article? It’s about serving as Jesus served and loving as Jesus loved. When people see us, at our work, at our school or at our church, do they see Christ within us? When they see our face, do they see the reflection of Jesus? I think that strange man must have seen the reflection of Jesus that day my mother invited him into our home and gave him food. Look around. Do you see reflections of Jesus around you?
 

        

Who Is Your King?

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In our women’s Bible study at church we have been studying the story of Gideon.  The study is facilitated by Priscilla Shirer who is the daughter of Dr. Tony Evans.  It has been very thought-provoking and convicting.  In our last week, Priscilla asked us, “Who is your king?”  In the book of Judges, after all that God did to deliver the Hebrew people from the hands of the Midianites, they wanted to give the credit to Gideon and make him their king.  They failed to give credit to the One who saved them through supernatural means.  If we are really honest with ourselves, do we do the same thing today?

We don’t bow down to idols as ancient people did, but we do have our idols even yet.  Money, power, acclaim, addictions…  What hits home with you?  For me the need for praise is my main idol and pride feeds this need.  Like many others, I become my own king.  I forget that everything I am or have is a gift from God.  I can take pride in the fact that I am a doctor and bask in the praise given me.  But who gave me the opportunity to do this?  I could have been born in Africa like Shadrach and never even have the chance to get an education.  I have never had to go hungry or worry about where I would sleep.  I act as if I somehow accomplished this myself. I have to stop myself and give credit where credit is due.  I would have NOTHING without God.

Now I don’t want to insinuate that blessings just fall down on us like rain and we have nothing to do with it.  Even Gideon had to be obedient to God’s plan of attack on the Midianites.  God whittled down the number of Hebrew warriors to 300, just so they would not be able to take credit for the victory but they did anyway!  Gideon and the Hebrews had to cooperate with God but He ultimately accomplished the victory.  In this same way, we have to cooperate with God to reap the benefit of His blessings.  The farmer’s fields don’t reap a harvest unless they invest the time to plow, plant, and fertilize their crop.  God provides the miracle of the seed that with water, sunlight and the right soil becomes the mature plant.  Together the harvest is accomplished.

Jesus spoke about yoking ourselves to Him and our burden would be light.  In this analogy, we’re still working but He’s bearing the bigger load.  We are weak but if we’re paired with Jesus there is no telling what we can accomplish. In the letter to the Philippians its says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”  I am blessed that God saw fit to give me the opportunity to go to Medical School but the degree didn’t just fall in my lap.  I had to study and make an investment of 11 years of my life to get there.  But if not for Jesus working beside me and pouring His strength into me, it would not have happened.  When pride starts to creep into my heart, I must stop myself from believing the lie that I did any of this on my own.  I must take myself or any other idol in my life off the throne of my heart and allow Jesus to sit as my King.

God…Why Skunks?

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Another great story from my friend Betty.
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God …… Why Skunks?
Why do we have skunks?  Yep, that’s going to be one of the questions on my “God List” when I see Him.  If you don’t know the skunk story, well here’s the short version.
One early morning, about 6 weeks ago now, our 17 month old black lab went outside on her regular routine of doing her business and surveying the property.  On her rounds she discovered a skunk in our front yard and, since she is still very much a playful pup, decided it might be a nice playmate.  Now you can probably guess what happened next.  The skunk did NOT want to play and proceeded to give her a spray just to let her know.  By that time my husband and I had seen the skunk and were horrified to say the least.  As we expected, the dog smelled exactly as we thought …..just like a skunk.  What we didn’t expect was that she would come running in the house and clean off her face onto our sofa.  Yep, that’s what I said, on our sofa.  All the way down the front edge of our three cushions was now skunk odor, not to mention the smell left on the dog.  So, now my husband and I are in a panic to get the remaining smell off the dog.  Still in our pajamas at 7:30 a.m., we corral the dog, run water in our tub, gather some doggie towels and begin to shampoo our 80 pound frisky lab, who also wants this stink off her.  Lather, rinse, lather, rinse and still, although drastically reduced, the smell of skunk is still evident.  Now, since we’ve concentrated on the source (the lab) we’ve also abandoned the sofa which is really stinking in the living room.  (Go ahead, I hear the laughter already.)  Finally we decided we had done  all we could do and dried off the dog, tried to figure out how many clothes we needed to throw away, take our shower and get to work late.
So, the sofa just sat there all day and continued to contaminate our home with the skunk odor.  By the time we returned home from work, well let’s just say, it was not a good thing.  We called the neighbor across the street to come help us haul the sofa outside to our large front porch.  At that point we had rid the house of the largest portion of the two sources of the smell.  Now comes the decontamination.  My husband and I, with Lysol and other disinfectants in hand, set out to clean floors, windows, doors and anything else in our path.  We just wanted to walk into our home without the overwhelming skunk smell.
Now, the smell is gone (thank God) and just this week that sofa, the one that was my favorite sofa ever, the one I loved when I saw it in the manufacturer’s brochure, the nicest sofa I ever had and the one I had waited, worked and saved so hard for was gone.  It was kind of sad to see it go, even though I knew it could not be repaired (it also had some puppy damage).  I thought about how much I had invested in that sofa.  Then later, I began to reflect on my investments.  Oh not the monetary investment, but rather the emotional investment.  I began thinking about just how much emotional attachment I had, not only to the sofa, but to other “things” I have.  So, this was a time of reflection and an opportunity to actually learn something about this whole experience.
What I’ve learned is that my “attachment to things” is not of God.  That doesn’t mean I don’t continue to appreciate and care for the things I have.  It just means that I have a new perspective.  I had such an emotional investment in that sofa that the loss of it diminished my joy of the other, more important, things in my life.  I would now rather concentrate on the joy of my friendships, my wonderful husband, my family that I dearly love, my church and the great love and forgiveness that Jesus Christ gives me each day.  After all, I am the child of a King!
 “Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
I might add to that, “where skunks and doggies do not destroy”.  Nevertheless, I try to look at circumstances as an opportunity to learn something.  I think I need to work just as diligently at thanking God for all that He gives, as I did diligently working and saving for that sofa.  That sofa is now gone but God’s love and forgiveness is always there for me, and you.  Eventually, I’ll get another sofa (God willing), but it won’t be one of my treasures.  Those are in Heaven!
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Angry with God?

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The letter from Betty I shared earlier this week brought up a touchy subject that most of us would rather sideline.  Anger with God.  Have you ever had a situation so horrific that you didn’t just question God but you felt angry that God let it happen?  I think many of us have, no matter how long we have been Christians, but we often don’t admit it.  Why?  We feel guilty about our anger against God.  Somehow we have programmed ourselves to think that anger is not allowed.  However there is good evidence that God is OK with us expressing our rage toward Him.

Job is a very familiar character in the Bible who is famous for his anger against God.  Job had many reasons to be angry.  In a very short time he lost his children, his property, his standing in his community and his health.  His wife advised him to curse God and die!  But Job did not.  He contended with God and was angry with Him but he never stopped believing through it all.  He wanted an answer from God as to why he was being punished when he had not sinned against Him.  God never really answered Job but instead showed Him through His majesty that He was in control.  Job was left without answers to his questions but getting answers weren’t important anymore.  He was justified by God and his friends were chastised for claiming that Job must have sinned and caused his predicament. His property and standing in the community were reinstated better than before.  He had more children and lived a long life after his trials.

The story of Job is interesting in many ways.  It’s notable that there was evil behind the scenes testing Job and God allowed this for a time.  Job never was privy to this information ever.  Also God never chastised Job for being angry with him.  He praised Job’s integrity throughout all his trials.

So if we take this story to heart, we can make two assumptions.  The first is to recognize that there probably is more going on behind the scenes in the spiritual world than we’ll ever know in this life.  In other words, we can’t see the whole picture.  We live in a world that is broken where bad things happen to good people.  The second assumption is that God does not get upset with us when we get angry with Him.  He wants us to be authentic and honest with Him.  What seems to really upset God is when we try to deceive Him or ignore Him.  We can’t lie to God about how we feel or what we’ve done.  God’s heart is broken when we ignore Him or act as if He doesn’t exist.  Job could have said that there must not be a God or He wouldn’t allow him to suffer.  But he didn’t.  Job kept up his conversation with God throughout his whole ordeal.  He continued to believe even as he railed against what was happening to him.  Even though it appeared that God had abandoned Job, He hadn’t.

We’re never promised that life will be easy or equitable. If fact, Jesus said that trouble was ahead for all of us.  Whatever you are going through right now, know that it is OK to be angry.  Let your feelings be made known to God and in Him you will find comfort. You may be delivered in this life from your troubles but reality is, you may not.  But through it all remember, you will be delivered someday and God will move through this life with you all the way.  He will not abandon you. These are promises we can stand on every day to help us survive and flourish with whatever life throws at us.