Choose Not To Suffer

I went to yoga class the other night and while in the savasana pose (otherwise known as the corpse/dead man’s pose), our teacher began talking to us about suffering.  He mentioned he had heard something the other day that gave him a new perspective .  “We allow ourselves to suffer, whether it’s physically, mentally or internal.  Think about it.  Sometimes we over think too much and we focus too much on the problem.  We create the suffering.”   As I was lying there, I started thinking about what he said and I couldn’t help but question it.  I was flip flopping – part of me understood what he was saying, but the other part of me started thinking, well no, suffering is inevitable in this world.  We don’t always create the suffering.

When class was over and I got in my car, the first song that came on was “Hope in Front of Me” by  Danny Gokey.  This song is about reaching rock bottom and pulling though. Danny wrote this song about the darkness that entered his life right before a pivotal moment in his life. Just four weeks before he auditioned for American Idol, Danny’s wife died from complications during a routine surgery for congenital heart disease.  His wife, Sophia Martinez, was his high school sweetheart.  They were married for 4 years and together for 12.   Can you imagine the devastation?  Danny was able to honor his wife by pursuing the dream she had envisioned for him by competing on American Idol and advancing to the final three before being eliminated. Through this time period, Danny was able to keep hope in front of him because of his unshakable faith.  There are many people who have lost loved ones, experienced tremendous heartbreak and are able to smile and continue to live their lives because of the strength God has given them to overcome. New beginnings are possible.  You can recover after devastating loss.  

I can speak from experience as I look back on my life.  God was always the one I leaned on during the many hardships in my life.  Many of you that have read my blog know that losing my brother was a very difficult time for both me and my family.  Before we lost him, he was continuously in and out of the hospital for a year.  It was torture to see someone you love with breathing tubes and their arms restrained to a hospital bed, but that year God wrapped his arms around me and gave me a peace like no other.  As I was listening to this song and all these thoughts circled, I thought of my friend Priscilla who lost her son in a car accident and how she is able to stand so strong despite the continuous heartache that she has.   Suffering can be momentary, if you allow it.

And so, we can’t control the pain or the hardship from presenting itself and yes, there is suffering, but the key is not to stay planted in the suffering for long.  Choose not to suffer. 

The only way I know how is by leaning on the strength of our creator.  

No matter how bad it gets, you'll be alright.  There is hope in front of you. 

 

Present Suffering and Future Glory Romans 18 – 28

18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to son ship, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 

26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. 

28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.