"God has asked us to do hard. This is what our family has been called to." Mary Beth Chapman spoke those words to her family after her five year old daughter Maria's death.
I heard her story this September first when Family Life interviewed her and her Grammy award winning singer/songwriter husband Steve. She shared how their family life had been full of wonderful events and transitions just before it was severely jarred by grief.
Despite occasional quivers in her voice and sniffles while the host spoke, she demonstrated a firm trust in God's strength and goodness. The grief had torn her like a killer in pursuit of her own life. She knew the enemy had come to steal, kill and destroy her family, but she held her children close and declared "He will not destroy our family over this."
Though devastated and shaken, she demonstrated her sure footing on the unshakable Rock. She chose, not felt, to keep trusting the God she had come to know over years of walking intimately with Him.
Her book, Choosing to SEE, will be an enlightening read. Especially if God has called you to 'do hard.'
http://www.familylife.com/site/c.dnJHKLNnFoG/b.3843443/k.809C/FamilyLife_Today.htm
For Your Consideration
Have you, or someone you love, been called to do hard?
What scriptures or other resources can you pull on for comfort? Instruction?
I also recommend Elizabeth A. Mitchell's book, Journey for the Heart written about their faith as they journeyed with her son James who died at thirteen with a worn out transplanted heart.
http://blog.journeyfortheheart.com/
2 comments:
I had typed out a whole post that was a giant pity party for me and how I think I "do hard"... sometimes I do, but I was just reminded that God has answered many prayers for me and I was instantly filled with gratitude. My heart swelled and I was reminded of this...Proverbs 3:11-12 "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." Through times of testing and affliction, God is teaching me. So yes, I "do hard" and there may be no immediate gratification, but there is a reward! AMEN!
Right on, Mandy!!
Today I read and meditated on Philippians 1. Paul was "doing hard" imprisoned for preaching the good news of Jesus Christ.
"Sufficient courage" caught my heart. I pray for that so "Christ will be exalted in my body" (see verse 20).
Lifts us to see the eternal, doesn't it?
God bless you today with a light heart as you "do hard."
Post a Comment