Me:  Howdy Prodigal are you taking a walk today?

 

Prodigal:  Yes,  Just a lot on my mind today with all that is going on.

 

Me:  Can I share a story with you that will hopefully encourage you?

 

Prodigal:  Yes, I would like that.

 

Chuck Swindoll in his book Start Where You Are talks about suffering to us.

 

While I have spent most of my time speaking to those who minister to the hurting, I have not said much to the sufferer personally.  Let me speak to you for a moment.

A major benefit of taking time to heal occurs within you.  Almost imperceptibly, you become a person with keener sensitivity, a broader base of understanding, and a longer fuse.  Patience is a by-product of pain.  So is tolerance of others and obedience to God.  For a lack of a better title, let’s call the whole package “wisdom.”

For too many years in your life you have operated strictly on the basis of knowledge–human absorption of facts and natural reaction to others.  But affliction has now entered your life, and even though you would much prefer to have it over with, it has not ended.  Difficult though it may be for you to believe, the pain you are forced to endure is reshaping and remaking you deep within.

 

To grow we have to go through this process.  It will be worth it at the end even though it is hard to see that at the moment.  It was hard for me to endure at the time also but it was very much worth all the suffering!!

 

Psalm 119:67,71,75

 

Before I was afflicted I went astray,

But now I keep thy word…

It is good for me that I was afflicted,

That I may learn thy statutes…

I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are righteous,

And that in faithfulness Thou has afflicted me.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

 

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org