Rejoice in Suffering?

Sometimes when I am reading scripture I come across words/phrases that make me stop reading and really think about what God is actually asking of us.  For instance, reading in Romans 5:3 it says, “We rejoice in our sufferings…”  Really?  We are to rejoice in the suffering we are experiencing.  I am sure my husband could attest that I lack in the rejoicing piece when I am suffering.  Do people really rejoice in their suffering?

These words are words I pondered for awhile and while pondering them I thought of a family that fit this statement.  The family is one that consists of Dad, Mom and 4 little girls aging 11 and under.  Dad is a pastor and mom teaches part time and stays home with the girls the other part of the time.  About a year and a half ago, dad was experiencing some severe headaches that were debilitating.  Dad went to the doctor, referred to Mayo Clinic in MN, and essentially stumped the doctors there.  In the middle of all of this, mom fell off of a horse and broke her pelvic bone.  This meant immediate surgery and being completely immobile for months.  The family has now had to move to Houston, TX for dad’s medical conditions.  He is in and out of the hospital with surgery looming and a potential for not real good results.  Mom has had to have another surgery because the first one didn’t heal correctly.  Therefore, she is once again laid up for the months.  On top of all of this, their niece was bon at 34 weeks and did marvelously well in the NICU.  She had a 19 day stay and then was able to come home.  However, after being home for a short period she contracted bacterial meningitis.  The bacterial meningitis took her life after being on this earth for four months. 

I go back to those words, rejoice in suffering.  How can a family rejoice in suffering after going through all of that AND still has more to go through?  They do rejoice.  Mom writes a blog.  Through her blog she shares the suffering that they are experiencing; yet, in that she shares how Christ is so good!  She shares all the good that has come from the suffering they have experienced.  She shares Christ’s love.

You see the bible passage didn’t just end with “rejoice in suffering”.  It goes on to say, “Knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)  Scripture didn’t end with Romans 5:3 either.  Scripture is filled with Christ’s promises for us!  God doesn’t forget us in our suffering.  In fact, He promises to be with us always. (Matthew 28:20)  Not only does He not forget us He equips us.  Psalm 18:39 notes, “For you equipped me with strength for the battle…” and Philippians 4:13 states, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”  We have His promises to hold onto.  We have His strength to lean upon.  We have His love filling us.  AND we can rejoice in suffering because in Romans 8:28 it states, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Rejoice in Christ!

Cheryl