So, we often profess to want "the heart of Christ". But do we really realize what that truly means? I believe many people do not. How often do we hear people question God. We often wonder "why does God allow good and innocent people to suffer", "why does God allow children to be abused or harmed", "why doesn't God, (fill in this blank with whatever)?
Well, you've heard the saying "it takes one to know one"... I have come to realize that this kind of suffering often leads to an "understanding", or "empathy", that many people never get to experience. When we listen to satan, and question, complain, and blame God, we entirely miss the blessing.
What I mean by this, is when you are the person who has been that "victim", and have gone through that experience, you have a choice... you either grow from it, or die by it. You can dwell on the past trauma of the events, or you can choose God, and rise above it.
In putting us through these It is through these extreme trials, God is, in a sense, sort of confiding in us. He is sharing with us, as a close and dear friend would tell you something very personal, important, and rare. He is allowing you the first-hand ability to share in what He feels. When His children suffer, are abused, tossed aside, murdered, etc. His heart hurts for them. He feels their pain. He longs to help them, rescue them, teach them. When we are the ones who have suffered, and turned to Him to deliver us, and are able to fully trust Him, then He lifts us above and through those horrible times.
Then we are no longer the same person. We have a permanent experience inside our hearts that unites, and binds us together, in feeling empathy for, and sharing in the pain that others feel. It is so powerful that it will make us care, mourn, and pray for total strangers... Except that through our experience, we are not really strangers anymore.
We become truly blessed with having received the "heart of Christ". But to receive it in this way, there is a price that has been paid... in pain, suffering, feeling alone, and hopeless. But if we do not give up, then we will receive.
I don't write this from my head, or random thoughts. I have lived it. And survived it. At first I believed the answer to the question of "why" was to enable us the understanding that will allow us to help others who go through those same things. And that is true. Once we have traveled on that path ourselves, we are then able to help others get through the path also... but that's not the only reason. I have come to believe that these are the occasions when God has open His heart up to us... He has trusted us. He has shared something directly with us. That is very special. A true gift. The heart of Jesus.
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(NOTE: This was not meant as a scripture study, or anything like that... it is a testimony of survival, and the realization of God choosing to reveal Himself in a very real, permanent, and special way.)
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Anyone dealing with traumatic past experiences, believe me, learn to allow God to teach you how to "let go" so you can heal. You will then be able to "change the past". Instead of being tormented, haunted, and held back by it... you can get beyond it, grow, and heal. You will be able to be in the present, and view the past in a whole different way. God will teach you that it was all just as stepping stones, or steps, leading you closer to Him. Instead of it having control of your present life, you will be able to beat it, control it, conquer it, and use it. You will realize and know that you have been blessed. After all, the past is over and gone! Don't keep living in it.
[Jhn 3:16-17 KJV]
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Well, you've heard the saying "it takes one to know one"... I have come to realize that this kind of suffering often leads to an "understanding", or "empathy", that many people never get to experience. When we listen to satan, and question, complain, and blame God, we entirely miss the blessing.
What I mean by this, is when you are the person who has been that "victim", and have gone through that experience, you have a choice... you either grow from it, or die by it. You can dwell on the past trauma of the events, or you can choose God, and rise above it.
Then we are no longer the same person. We have a permanent experience inside our hearts that unites, and binds us together, in feeling empathy for, and sharing in the pain that others feel. It is so powerful that it will make us care, mourn, and pray for total strangers... Except that through our experience, we are not really strangers anymore.
We become truly blessed with having received the "heart of Christ". But to receive it in this way, there is a price that has been paid... in pain, suffering, feeling alone, and hopeless. But if we do not give up, then we will receive.
I don't write this from my head, or random thoughts. I have lived it. And survived it. At first I believed the answer to the question of "why" was to enable us the understanding that will allow us to help others who go through those same things. And that is true. Once we have traveled on that path ourselves, we are then able to help others get through the path also... but that's not the only reason. I have come to believe that these are the occasions when God has open His heart up to us... He has trusted us. He has shared something directly with us. That is very special. A true gift. The heart of Jesus.
---------
(NOTE: This was not meant as a scripture study, or anything like that... it is a testimony of survival, and the realization of God choosing to reveal Himself in a very real, permanent, and special way.)
--------
Anyone dealing with traumatic past experiences, believe me, learn to allow God to teach you how to "let go" so you can heal. You will then be able to "change the past". Instead of being tormented, haunted, and held back by it... you can get beyond it, grow, and heal. You will be able to be in the present, and view the past in a whole different way. God will teach you that it was all just as stepping stones, or steps, leading you closer to Him. Instead of it having control of your present life, you will be able to beat it, control it, conquer it, and use it. You will realize and know that you have been blessed. After all, the past is over and gone! Don't keep living in it.
[Jhn 3:16-17 KJV]
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
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