suffering

Opening Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, thank you that you are always up to something.  Thank you that even in the midst of our most painful situations and circumstances, you are always up to something.  You are bigger than our troubles and woes.  You can bring beauty out of ashes.  Thank you that, in the end, suffering and death and pain do not win, life does.  You entered into our suffering to prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt.  Thank you. 

Scripture: Romans 5:1-5

Journal: What do your sufferings do to you?  What do they do in you?  Are you currently fighting them or embracing them?  What do you think God might be up to through them?

Reflection: No one can escape it; everyone must somehow either make friends with suffering or be broken by it.  No one can come close to another, let alone love him, without coming close to his suffering.  Christ did far more, he wed himself to our suffering, he made death his bride, and in the consummation of his love, he gave her his life. ~Caryll Houselander

Prayer

Closing Prayer: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.  Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.  One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.  For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. (Psalm 25:1-5)