Times of Trial

Posted on the Facebook page of the Eastern Mission of the ALCA http://www.alcem.org/

Times of Trial

Life often has its ups and downs. No matter what position you hold in life, problems do arise. Often we can wonder what is going on, and some may ask " where is God? "

We don't often voice these thoughts. In todays "Positive thinking Church" we often feel the need to supress such feelings. These feelings do come at times. We can see that those from the scripture felt the same at times.

David writes of feeling alone....for example,

KJV Psalm 10:1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

By the time he writes Psalm 11 he is praising the Lord. Then by psalm 13 he is asking where He is again.

KJV Psalm 13:1 How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

By this we can see that we are not the only ones that battle with the feelings of depression and insecurity.

Things can seem overwhelming even for the greatest of men ....Look at Elijah in 1Kings 19 he felt as he was the only one left. Yet God informs him there are 7000 who have not worshiped Ba'al ..........Think of it, going from thinking you are alone to 7000 on your team!

Now we are not alone, Jesus Is with us . He has given us the Helper (the Holy Spirit)

When you feel overtaken by doubt or fear look to Jesus Christ to give you strength. You can find the assurance you need through the Body of Christ. The body of Christ is the Church.

In this fast paced world we often feel the need to separate our selves from everyone else. This is the opposite of what we should be doing. We need the fellowship of others.

KJV Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

So if you find things getting hard to deal with speak to someone, share your difficulties.

God's Peace

(reprinted by permission)

Marie,
Thank you so much for posting this. Those who have known me for awhile are aware of why I requested prayer the other day. December is my hardest month because that was when my first two kids died in the housefire, it was also my oldest child's birthday.

I've often wondered why I have such a hard time, when others who have lost children seem to be able to get past the grief. The other day I was researching the grieving process in an effort to figure out what was wrong with me that I go through this every December. I found some interesting information. It seems like what I go through is similar to what people who have experienced war goes through. Within a 5 year period 8 people that I loved had passed away, starting with my own 4 kids. I saw 3 of my kids die, one I was holding in my arms at the time.

When you go through losing so many people in such a short period of time you never fully grieve any of them, so some people, such as myself, gets stuck in the grieving process.

I've learned not to talk about it very much because people don't seem to understand that I can't just "get over it and get on with living". Believe me, I have tried.

This is the reason I requested prayer without going into the details of why I needed prayer. Some days the emptiness I feel inside of me is almost more than I can bear. Yet God gives me the strength each year to get through.

I didn't mean to ramble, but again, thank you for this post.

You're welcome, Sonshine!

That message spoke to me as well. I tend to isolate. I struggle with depression and that's how I deal with it.. it sneaks up on me and I don't even realize how I'm withdrawing.

Sonshine, I think it's perfectly natural for you to feel this way during the anniversary times.. You're right - the war veterans are the very same way. And it is not helpful to tell them they should get over it, this is something they will always live with.

I didn't know that this was the anniversary of your losses, but it just seemed like this article fit in so many ways.. it surely did speak to me!

I have come to some sort of conclusion.. and that is, that there are no easy answers, no right or wrong.. but that we are here to help each other through this often sorrowful but also joyful life... Things happen which we have no control over, and sometimes all we really have is the unconditional love and unjudgmental support of those around us...

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of my car accident, and just do not want to be on the road now that the winter weather has arrived, and especially not tomorrow... They say it takes a couple of years and starts to get better. I'm okay on dry roads, but not slippery roads... But this is minor compared to what you've experienced..

I didn't realize you had been in a car accident.

Hi Sonshine,

yes, it was one year ago that I was traveling down a highway which was just a bit slippery.. An oncoming pickup truck lost control and spun into my lane. My truck was totalled, but I had seat belt on and the air bags went off, and I was not seriously hurt.. whiplash and shaken up of course.. and my blood pressure has been high since then. But otherwise very lucky, it could have been so much worse. There was quite a bit of traffic that morning so fortunately no other cars were involved.

Another year older... and not any wiser lol

I'm glad you weren't seriously injured. Must have had someone watching out for you.

...and the other lady had someone watching out for her, too.. She was the one who could very easily lost her life, as she was sideways on the road but I missed the cab of her truck.. Another few feet and it would have been bad.. She walked away from the accident. I do believe our guardian angels were watching out for us. God knows our appointed time, so we do not have to fear.