As I composed my last post, I was preparing to have a very critical surgery to remove the upper lobe of my right lung which contained some cancerous tissue. I am now on the other side by over two months. Many prayers were answered as I am now cancer free! I will continue to have periodic scans. My preference, of course, would have been to not have had the surgery but through God's amazing knowledge, given to my God-Believing Surgeon, the cancer was removed. I am so grateful and thank you all for praying. Now I would like to talk to you a bit about some Scriptures from the Book of Romans, Chapter 8. "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (verse 18) Not many of us want to accept the fact that "sufferings" are a part of Christian life. We want to reserve that for those who don't know the Lord or are walking in disobedience to Him. Well.... news flash... verse 22 tells us that the "whole creation has been groaning together..." No one is exempt from suffering. Some seem to suffer less, some more. If you feel you are one of the elite, just wait, at some moment in your life, you will suffer. It may not be from the ravages of disease or divorce or loss of property for example, but eventually, death will visit each of us through the loss of someone we love. Inescapable unless you have the heart of a rock! Suffering will come. Somewhere in that journey you will find your inner self... that place way down deep within the center of you being, GROANING to be released. Moaning for something better. That place where the indescribable ache and pain would be erased. Not just rubbed over with a dirty eraser so that the residue is seen, but completely obliterated as if never existing in the first place. Well, the entire Creation, anything with the breath of life is crying out with a cry without words. Now we who know the Lord, have received Jesus as our Savior and have the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit "Groan" with understanding as we wait and long for the redemption of our bodies (verse 23). We are being watched as we wait because we alone have and understand the Hope of Heaven. We know the Truth. We know that the reason for all the suffering is due to living in a sinful world and the only way of escape is "death" to ourselves and "life" unto Him... Jesus Christ who took all sin to the Cross and to the Grave. We have the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Door to Eternity in Heaven! As I have said before, we are all going to die physically but we are all going to live forever. The question is: "Where are we going to live forever?" With Christ and the Father and the Spirit OR in eternal separation from the Three in One? We who have that Hope need to be a Beacon for those who don't. As we walk through the sufferings of this world, we have the Holy Spirit who helps us in our weakness (verse 26). He prays for us and through us. He acts as a relief valve in that the "groanings" can get so intense at times we feel we may explode. The Spirit knows how to pray when we have no words to express our pain and our longing. Be patient Saint of God. It won't be long. And the Glory we will experience will completely exterminate the very memory of any and all of what sin and the "god of this world", the Devil, has stolen from us. Jesus has come to give life and give that life in an abundance which description can only be written in heavenly terminology! In that, take heart... pray for one another... encourage one another... be a Lighthouse for those seeking with "groaning hearts" a Refuge and Hope for a solid and never ending future. One where the word "suffering" isn't even a memory! Love in Christ Jesus with Grace and Peace to all who have read these words.
