From the Director

The official last day of summer is September 22 this year. Even though summer is not technically over, I’ve already been saying it’s fall because school is back in session and the trees are turning colors. It’s amazing how much the leaves change in just a few weeks.

However, I’ve shifted my focus this year. I think the gold and red colors should be as much of a sign of the successful completion of summer as they are the signal a new season. I want to take a moment and relish the end of something before I move on.

There is something precious about seeing a thing through to the end. Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.” (NIV) But, I also love the New Living Translation which says, “Finishing is better than starting.”

As you consider all the things which are beginning, rejoice a moment in this: summer is over. God was faithful to carry us through. He finishes stuff. God is also faithful to finish what he has started in you, and in your family. Philippians 1:6

As you look around at the signs that summer has ended, I pray his promise of completion fills you with hope. 

Kapri

God, where are you in the pain?

Usually our first question isn’t even to ask “Where is he?”, but “Why did he allow this pain at all?” We can fall into the trap of defining God’s presence—equivocating it—with the absence of pain. Sometimes even, we see abundance in finances, pleasure and relationships as proof of his love and abiding presence.

When you flounder because of pain, sometimes the better first question is, “Do I believe God is good?”

Either he is, or he isn’t.

It is a diluted faith that cannot quench through trial. It is a deluded faith that believes God answers all our prayers with the trinket we want that day. Amid suffering, there is nothing wrong with asking to be released, and you can still feel the emotion of all the pain. But if we believe he is truly good, we will seek him—not just the end of our pain. That’s why the question, “Do I believe God is good?” matters so much.

We would never choose the path of suffering, yet in it there can be untold blessing. We are so used to spiritualizing God that we don’t see the miracle and majesty of the ordinary. And suffering is ordinary. Often it is through suffering that we discover our true tribe. The relationships that persevere are an honest blessing.

Suffering can also be the path to solidify your most intimate relationship. Think about the story in John 11. Jesus’ dear friends, Mary and Martha, send for him to heal their brother. Even though they were in a relationship with Jesus and had the faith that he could heal, Jesus waits until Lazarus dies.

Rebecca McLaughlin writes about Martha’s response in Confronting Christianity, “It’s not that her suffering or our suffering doesn’t matter: it matters enough to bring tears to the eyes of the Son of God! But it matters like a first meeting matters to a marriage, or like birth matters to motherhood. It is an entry point to relationship, a relationship formed through suffering as much as through joy. If, as Jesus claims, the goal of our existence is relationship with him, finding him in our suffering is the point.”

We are not alone. You are not alone.

Recommended Reading:
Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering by Timothy Keller

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