How do your children see you responding to life’s trials? Do you feel sorry for yourself and get depressed? Do you cast blame and grow bitter and angry? Or do you turn to the our Father and ask, “What is Your purpose in this?”

Our responses to difficulties are powerful lessons not written on a blackboard. Our students are watching and learning; where do they see your eyes fixed? On the circumstances? on your past failures to deal with trials? or on Jesus? Turning to Him will open our eyes beyond any circumstance we encounter.

Storms can blow away distractions that keep our focus off God. They can break our pride and self-sufficiency that keep us from God. God does not send all storms, most are the result of sin. But our Father will make a way to turn destruction into good. (Romans 8:28). He will allow a storm–for the greater good–so you will turn back to your intimate relationship with Him.

When a storm rages in we cry out to Him in the midst , “Thank you, Father, I know You have a reason for allowing this in my life. I know You will walk through this difficult time with me. I know You love me and I know you are in control.” You can pray this even if you caused the storm. He will provide for us and protect us with His divine loving power. He will use the brokenness to develop spiritual fruit in us if we allow Him.

How can we get to that place of faith where we automatically trust Him fully? Wayne Jacobson answers this very question in discussing the physical storm the disciples went though with Jesus in the article Are You Afraid?

How can we get to that place?

Wrong question, for in asking it we only prove our eyes are still on ourselves. Like the storm on Galilee, it matters little what we do, only what He will do. By keeping our eyes on him we can be free of fear or anxiety no matter what we might encounter in this life.

And what he has done in us and what he will continue to do even in the midst of the most painful circumstances you face today, will absolutely astound you. –Wayne Jacobson

Joy and sorrow can be considered the parents of our spiritual growth. We can teach our children by example that God is with us every moment of every day and the fruit will be joy, peace, and happiness.

The Fruit Comes Afterward

“The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and storm” (Nahum 1:3).

I recollect, when a lad… sitting on an elevation of that mountain, and watching a storm as it came up the valley. The heavens were filled with blackness, and the earth was shaken by the voice of thunder. It seemed as though that fair landscape was utterly changed, and its beauty gone never to return.

But the storm swept on, and passed out of the valley; and if I had sat in the same place on the following day, and said, “Where is that terrible storm, with all its terrible blackness?” the grass would have said, “Part of it is in me,” and the daisy would have said, “Part of it is in me,” and the fruits and flowers and everything that grows out of the ground would have said, “Part of the storm is incandescent in me.” from a devotion in Streams in the Desert by L. B. Cowman.

Have you asked to be made like your Lord? Have you longed for the fruit of the Spirit, and have you prayed for sweetness and gentleness and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be the rich fruitage in the “afterward.” –Henry Ward Beecher

The flowers live by the tears that fall From the sad face of the skies; And life would have no joys at all, Were there no watery eyes. Love thou thy sorrow: grief shall bring Its own excuse in after years; The rainbow!–see how fair a thing God hath built up from tears. –Henry S. Sutton

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Studies show over 75% of Americans are dangerously deficient in magnesium. Magnesium is an essential factor in more aspects of health than any other mineral, yet rarely measured by doctors.

Chocolate cravings are a sign of a magnesium deficiency. Women’s bodies scream for chocolate during PMS. Some researchers believe that women crave chocolate prior to menstruation because it contains high levels of magnesium.

A lack of this important mineral can cause insomnia, depression, fatigue, migraines, anxiety, hyperactivity, panic attacks, premenstrual irritability, attention deficit disorder, bladder problems, fibromyalgia, asthma, allergies, palpitations, heart arrhythmias, and more.

Even a mild deficiency causes sensitiveness to noise, nervousness, irritability, mental depression, confusion, twitching, trembling, apprehension, insomnia, muscle weakness and cramps in the toes, feet, legs, or fingers. Adelle Davis, writing in Let’s Have Healthy Children

A 2004 study fed one group of mice a magnesium-depleted diet for a few weeks and fed control mice a regular diet. At the end of the study period, the poor magnesium deficient mice were prone to anxiety and to depression.

Magnesium Sources

The best way to get enough magnesium is to eat a variety of whole foods, including whole grains, nuts, seeds and vegetables. Cashews, almonds and sunflower seeds are an excellent source of magnesium (go trail mix!). Read about more food sources of magnesium.

Calcium supplements decrease the body’s absorption of magnesium, as do soft drinks, alcohol, caffeine, excess sugar, diuretics and birth-control pills.

The recommended daily allowance is 350 milligrams. Some on the forefront of magnesium research are recommending up to 1000 mg per day in healthy people. The National Institutes of Health increased their recommended daily intake of calcium to 1,500 mg for prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Magnesium and Heart Conditions

Cardiovascular diseases have often been linked to magnesium depletion. Many forms of abnormal heartbeat can be traced to a magnesium deficiency and these conditions respond well to magnesium supplementation.

My husband and I both have serious heart conditions. Even though magnesium insufficiency causes arrhythmias and coronary artery disease, not one of our cardiologists nor any other doctors have tested for or recommended magnesium for either of us.

I began taking magnesium supplements when I developed a heart condition and read the important of Mg in The Magnesium Miracle.

I’m upping my dose now to deal with menopause insomnia.

Sleep in magnesium deficiency is restless, agitated and disturbed by frequent nighttime awakenings. However, all forms of magnesium are not equally effective. In a study of more than 200 patients, Dr. W. Davis used magnesium chloride as a possible means of combating insomnia. The researcher reported that sleep was induced rapidly, was uninterrupted, and that waking tiredness disappeared in ninety-nine percent of the patients. In addition, anxiety and tension diminished during the day. (W. Davis and F. Ziady, The Role of Magnesium in Sleep, Montreal Symposium).

The Chlorophyll Wonder Can Help

Chlorophyll (plant pigment and natural non-toxic wonder) is recognized as one of nature’s riches sources of important nutrients and can help you increase magnesium.

Taking chlorophyll supplements is similar to eating tons of green leafy vegetables. It is an excellent source of calcium, helps in good blood circulation, is a cancer preventative, and helps in wound healing. Chlorophyll has been used for gastrointestinal problems, bad breath, anemia, and to help detoxify cancer-promoting substances.

Chlorophyll is available in capsules, tablets, liquid, sprays, green power drinks, barley grass powder, and wheat grass juice at any health food or vitamin store.

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This week’s quote is from The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, a young professor dying of cancer. See the video here.

“….the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people…..Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”

In The Last Lecture the brick walls Randy speaks of are hindrances to our goals. We can allow the brick walls to make us bitter or better depending on how we view them. We can choose to give up because of the walls or persevere in spite of the brick walls.

Perseverance, as defined in the dictionary, is steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Our finest goal is to be Christ-like. The hindrance to this goal is sin. To grow spiritually in order to become like Christ we need perseverance to overcome sin. It is a daily challenge that requires daily help, staying in God’s Word.

God Can Use Our Suffering

God, our loving Heavenly Father, uses suffering or misfortune in our lives to prove our faith or to test our character.

As a parent I would never push my son into the road in front of traffic, but if my son ran out into the road I would discipline him to teach him of the possible danger. I have purposely inflicted temporary pain on my son’s backside in order to teach him to avoid much greater pain in the future. I am much wiser than he is. I can see a bigger picture.

Sin and disobedience usually cause our suffering, but God can use it to make us stronger if we let Him. Character built by the Holy Spirit is different compared to our born again experience. Salvation is a gift. Character growth is built through proving: tribulation, hardships, sorrow, and trials.

“Count it all a joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” James 1:2-3

We are human. We spend a great deal of our lives seeking comforts and avoiding pain because it is natural to relate negatively to suffering.

Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

If we believe God’s Word we can embrace obstacles and difficulties. We can look at the bigger picture and see God has a greater plan.

Becoming a Christian never means a life without suffering. In fact, we are promised hindrances and tribulation:

• ~ Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward (Job 5:7).
• ~ Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivered him out of them all (Psa. 34:19).
• ~ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17).
• ~ Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution(2 Tim. 3:12).
• ~ In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33).
• ~ And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience. (Rom. 5:3).

How can a loving God use suffering? This is a very hard lesson to understand. God continually uses means to bring our heart to closer relations and nearness to Christ. The means that He uses are not important.

What is important is that we view suffering and trials as allowing God to build our spiritual life and character. To allow Him to be the Potter while we are the clay. This is TRUST and FAITH. The stronger the character and deeper the life in Him, the nearer we are brought to Our Lord.

That I May Know Him…

Christ suffered for us–persecution, pain, and death. He suffered much more than the cross; he faced every day difficulties similar to those we face. He learned obedience through suffering (Heb 5:8).

We are quick to balk if we are slightly uncomfortable, but Paul calls us to share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings:

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. Phil 3:10

Look at this verse in the Amplified Bible:

For my determined purpose is that I may know Him that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness even to His death, in the hope. Phil 3:10

Tribulation means threshing. The farmer threshes the wheat that the grain may be separated from the chaff and the sticks. He wants pure grain. God said, “Tribulation worketh patience.”

Plants produce better and richer fruit when the vine is pruned. Patience, long-suffering, and kindness come by way of threshing or pruning.

Think about the struggles and trials you have faced in your lifetime. Did you grow? Was it worth it? Did Corrie Ten Boom grow during her hardships?

The prodigal son’s father knew the son was headed for destruction. In tough love, he allowed him to leave with his inheritance. The boy learned and grew. In the end he became the man his father wanted him to be–through great suffering.

North Korean Missionary

Today, I heard a portion of a radio show interview of a North Korean missionary. They discussed the changes in the last 20 years - how persecution dropped from 80% to 20%. The interviewer asked the missionary “Do you want to be rid of all persecution?” The missionary quickly replied, “God’s will be done; we have grown by leaps and bounds spiritually through the persecution.”

North Korean Christians welcome suffering. By most standards, the entire country is a prison camp; cold, hunger and death are everywhere. Believers in North Korea’s underground church recite five principles, along with the Lord’s Prayer, at their secret gatherings:

1. Our persecution and suffering are our joy and honor.
2. We want to accept ridicule, scorn and disadvantages with joy in Jesus’ name.
3. As Christians, we want to wipe others’ tears away and comfort the suffering.
4. We want to be ready to risk our lives because of our love for our neighbor, so that they also become Christians.
5. We want to live our lives according to the standards set in God’s Word.

Bitter or Better

Suffering does not automatically make you stronger. It depends on how you react to it. Difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement can make you either bitter or better.

I watched one of the sweetest, kindest, most loving people I have ever known turn into a bitter hard woman in a few short months. Her husband left her and their children after he fell in love with her best friend. She was full of anger and rage. I watched it eat her from the inside out.

It took over a year and a lot of prayer but she turned back to God. Praise God. She chose to forgive (God, her husband and the other woman) and is now becoming a loving person again.

I have had the opportunity to watch the transformation. As she allows God to be in charge, she is growing stronger though the deep pain and suffering. I see new fresh fruit in her life. She is learning to continually surrender and forgive as the angry feelings return, again and again. She has to surrender–as we all do, over and over–and each time she grows closer to Christ and produces more fruit of the Spirit.

When we ask God to make us Christ-like we need to expect difficulties which allow Him to break our pride, rebellion, selfishness and independence so we can learn to be totally dependent on Him.

Do you want deliverance or development? Consider difficulties and obstacles as your signal to turn to God just as a sailor turns to a lighthouse in the storm. A difficulty can be a wonderful instrument if it forces you to turn to the Light.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

Tuesday In Other Words is a meme based on a posted quote each week by Amy at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31.

Don’t miss the other interesting views on this quote. This quote is being hosted by Lori @ All You Have to Give.

For more memes see the Daily Blogs Meme List

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5. We Can Rejoice in Weakness

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View from the Back of an Ambulance

Thank you so much for taking the time to pray for my family and all your lovely comments this week. I wept as I read them. Thank you, Kathleen, for keeping everyone updated. I coveted your prayers and, as usual, God not only answered them, He did exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask (Eph 3:20).

Rejoice: This Week Has Been a Trial

Paul said “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us - they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us ….” Romans 5:3-5

I began this week hemorrhaging and went to the Shelbyville Emergency Room where they immediately sent me to Vanderbilt Hospital in an ambulance.

There is nothing more sobering than an hour ride in an ambulance with flashing lights and screaming sirens.

After five days of poking and prodding I was released on Thursday night but had to go back Friday night. Nothing serious this time, my arm is infected from IV Infiltration (one of the blood transfusions didn’t go well). The swelling got pretty bad and my fever was creeping up so I went back to the hospital for an antibiotic shot. I feel much better now.

Praise God, for the first time in years my blood levels are all in the normal range! Even with aches of an infection spreading through my body, I still feel good because I received 6 units of iron-rich blood via transfusions.

Now I have color. I walked by a mirror and thought I had a sunburn; then realized I actually have a flesh tone, I’m not pasty pale white anymore.

Praise God, my heart is doing well. The heart troubles (erratic EKGs and bigeminy and trigemini) were a result of blood and electrolyte loss–not from the heart surgery last month. So now that the blood loss has been corrected (well, mostly) my heart is doing well.

Rejoice: This Week Has Been a Test

We give our children tests to find out what they have learned. God designs spiritual tests to help us find out about ourselves, to become closer to Him and develop spiritually.

Kathleen told you, “Robin has lost the will to live.” Well, I did. When you give an anemic, weak woman a whole bunch of hormone pills she will transform before your eyes from Jekyll to Hyde.

The third day in the hospital my blood levels bottomed out and the doctors gave me a ton of Progesterone. My thoughts were like spaghetti. I was in a deep, dark, nasty pit–sobbing for several hours. Once the meds were stopped I was fine. Hormones are powerful chemicals. This was a spiritual battle and all your prayers kept me in God’s protective arms.

Our bodies are amazing–temples entrusted to us by God; so complex, how can anyone doubt Our Creator?

We are all in the process of growing spiritually and sometimes it is a painful process. Once a seed is planted in fertile ground, it takes root and grows into a fruit-bearing plant. The plants that receive proper pruning will bear the most fruit.

There is always a lesson in tribulations. We just have to ask God to complete a good work in us through it.

I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (Cor 12:10)

Rejoice: This Week Has Been a Reminder

This week has been a reminder we are in these temporary bodies for such a short time. Our days here on earth are a mist, a breath, a wisp of smoke (Ecc 4:7). God alone is “from everlasting to everlasting” Our life in these bodies is but a drop in the ocean.

Once we adjust our focus from the cares of this world to eternity with a loving God we become true positive thinkers. Not the pop-culture/talk show/Oprah’s bestselling self-help book positive thinkers, but people positive that God loves us and that He has a specific plan for each of us.

Beloved, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God has provided for our sinful ways and rescued us from a horrible sin-death. Rejoice!

I appreciate the short time I have here and the many blessings God has given me. But this week has been a reminder that I am accountable for this time I have in this body. We all need to consistently examine our time and be sure it being spent in God’s will.

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am. (Psalms 39:4)

Rejoice: This Week Has Been A Physical and Spiritual Healing

You prayed for my family and God answered in many ways. A long overdue restoration and healing is in the works and I look forward to watching how God makes the transformation.

It is late and I need to rest. I can’t thank you enough for your prayers. What a wonderful age of communication we live in. We can share one another’s burdens and encourage one another thousands of miles apart.

Please keep praying as my family continues to fight spiritual and physical battles. Thank you!

Image Credit: The card on the top of this post and more Christian cards are greeting cards you can print from your desktop color printer from http://www.abigraphics.com

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