I cannot begin to tell you how much it thrills my heart to see Talitha smile at me, to snuggle with her, to watch her sleeping face, to hear her giggle, and to see her wiggle all over on the floor. We are so blessed to have Talitha with us. God is so incredibly good to us. Being a mom has been one of the most wonderful and most difficult experiences of my life.
Perhaps having Talitha has also helped ease some of the pain of our miscarriage, as in some ways, we have "moved past" the will we ever hold a baby of our own in our arms? question. At least we know that {maybe} we were just another couple that fits into the "first babies are often miscarried" statistic. I don't know...
Whatever the case, I came across the following post on Lessons from Suffering in Life in my draft archive the other day and finally feel like I can post it. I post these not because I feel like I've mastered these lessons but because I need to be reminded of these hard lessons. I hope it is an encouragement to you as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesson #1--Thank God for it.
“In everything,” we are commanded to give thanks. It is easy? No. It is good? Yes. Can it be a process to get to the point of giving thanks? Yes.
But we are to give thanks.
We may not totally understand, but we can still trust God in it. And so it is good for our soul to give thanks for it. If you can’t thank Him for it yet, ask God to help you get to where you can thank Him for it.
Lesson #2--Cry out to God for strength and grace. He will hear you. He has promised sustaining grace. He hears the cry of anguish and sorrow, and He will answer. His answer may not look like the answer you're looking for, but He will answer. I promise.
Lesson #3--Be careful about taking out your pain on those around you. This one is a hard one. Really hard. Too often we let our selfish, sinful, human side take over and we convince ourselves that because we’re hurting inside, no one else deserves any happiness or joy either. This is an incredibly selfish and sinful lie, straight from Satan, who delights in seeing God’s children act in sinful and selfish ways.
When we allow ourselves to take our pain out on others, it doesn’t really change anything, even though we think that we’ll feel better because of it. Allowing ourselves to act out in this selfishness only brings more pain—both for ourselves and for others.
Recognizing this lie is a step in the right direction. But we can’t stop there: to fight the deception, we must constantly give our pain over to God and recognize His plan in and through our pain and cling to His Truth. That sounds like a trite answer, but it is true.
Lesson #4--Guard against bitterness. Please, oh please, guard your heart against this subtle enemy. Bitterness is such an easy trap to fall into. It can show up in many forms: anger towards God, inner irritation and annoyance with those around us who seem to be more fortunate than we are, attitudes that permeate our lives and affects everything we touch. And the list doesn't stop there.
Bitterness will eat you up alive. Seriously.
So by God's grace, don't let it.
Guarding against bitterness isn’t just a one-time ordeal. It is a daily, minute-by-minute battle that must constantly be surrendered to God.
Even after you've dealt with it.
Lesson #5--Fight the sin of comparison and discontentment. Need I say more?
Lesson #6--Give God your dreams. We all have our dreams in life. Some big, some little, some bigger than we may realize. Dreams aren’t wrong, but we cannot cling so tightly to them that we are unwilling to let go of them if He calls us to let them go. I read in Piper's book Momentary Marriage "Hold them [husband, children, etc.] loosely, as if you're not holding them at all." And time and time again, I have to remind myself that life here on earth is just a short while, with temporary, fleeting blessings. At some point, God may call us to give up some of these blessings. If that is what He asks us to do, He will give joy in doing so and help us find joy in something else, and even more joy in loving Him.
Lesson #1--Thank God for it.
“In everything,” we are commanded to give thanks. It is easy? No. It is good? Yes. Can it be a process to get to the point of giving thanks? Yes.
But we are to give thanks.
We may not totally understand, but we can still trust God in it. And so it is good for our soul to give thanks for it. If you can’t thank Him for it yet, ask God to help you get to where you can thank Him for it.
Lesson #2--Cry out to God for strength and grace. He will hear you. He has promised sustaining grace. He hears the cry of anguish and sorrow, and He will answer. His answer may not look like the answer you're looking for, but He will answer. I promise.
Lesson #3--Be careful about taking out your pain on those around you. This one is a hard one. Really hard. Too often we let our selfish, sinful, human side take over and we convince ourselves that because we’re hurting inside, no one else deserves any happiness or joy either. This is an incredibly selfish and sinful lie, straight from Satan, who delights in seeing God’s children act in sinful and selfish ways.
When we allow ourselves to take our pain out on others, it doesn’t really change anything, even though we think that we’ll feel better because of it. Allowing ourselves to act out in this selfishness only brings more pain—both for ourselves and for others.
Recognizing this lie is a step in the right direction. But we can’t stop there: to fight the deception, we must constantly give our pain over to God and recognize His plan in and through our pain and cling to His Truth. That sounds like a trite answer, but it is true.
Lesson #4--Guard against bitterness. Please, oh please, guard your heart against this subtle enemy. Bitterness is such an easy trap to fall into. It can show up in many forms: anger towards God, inner irritation and annoyance with those around us who seem to be more fortunate than we are, attitudes that permeate our lives and affects everything we touch. And the list doesn't stop there.
Bitterness will eat you up alive. Seriously.
So by God's grace, don't let it.
Guarding against bitterness isn’t just a one-time ordeal. It is a daily, minute-by-minute battle that must constantly be surrendered to God.
Even after you've dealt with it.
Lesson #5--Fight the sin of comparison and discontentment. Need I say more?
Lesson #6--Give God your dreams. We all have our dreams in life. Some big, some little, some bigger than we may realize. Dreams aren’t wrong, but we cannot cling so tightly to them that we are unwilling to let go of them if He calls us to let them go. I read in Piper's book Momentary Marriage "Hold them [husband, children, etc.] loosely, as if you're not holding them at all." And time and time again, I have to remind myself that life here on earth is just a short while, with temporary, fleeting blessings. At some point, God may call us to give up some of these blessings. If that is what He asks us to do, He will give joy in doing so and help us find joy in something else, and even more joy in loving Him.
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