Embracing The Pain-A personal letter from George Verwer

Continuing on the theme of suffering and trial, I decided to 'post' a letter from George Verwer which I only discovered on his website tonight. George also encourages people to send it to their friends.Certainly Christians and non-Christians are hurting and have often been hurt by friends or family and even those from their Church. Sometimes the pain goes very deep, especially if they have been 'wounded in the house of their friends'.Christ himself was not exempt from this. He was not only betrayed by Judas but also saw his closest friends run away durin the time of his greatest need.

It is a sad fact that Christians will sometimes take their hurt and resentment to the grave. Though it is hard to do, the Master tells us we must forgive those who have sinned against us.If we do forgive, we can then by his grace, be released from the bondage of resentment and bitterness that had held us in its grip.It is also a truly Christlike thing to do.

May God through His Spirit encourage us to look inside our hearts and let the Him come and minister to us.AK

I have a great burden on my heart and want to share it with as many as possible.

I am burdened for people who are really hurting in a major way. We all have hurts but there are so many who are hurting much more than others.

Often, when we want to help or minister to such people it is not possible because their hurts have created a barrier or wall and people can't get through it. Some Christians have been hurt so much by other Christians, that they will not go to church or fellowship with other believers. For them, it is all too painful.

There are many great books and passages of Scriptures that can help such people but they might not know about them or be hesitant to read them. I am reading such a book right now, Life of the Beloved by Henri JM Nouwen and it has ministered to me in a powerful way. He speaks of finding the courage to embrace our own brokenness and to make our most feared enemy into a friend, even claiming it as an intimate companion.

Shortly after reading this, I had a very painful experience with a friend who was deeply criticising one of my closest friends. It could have really upset me and ruined our time together, but instead, I embraced it as allowed by God and part of what life is all about. Great joy and peace flooded my heart and I was free. I know it doesn't always work that way and that others have hurts 100 times greater than mine, yet they are not too big for God.

How can we who are forgiven of our sins and delivered from hell, not truly forgive with all our being those who have sinned against us? We know that all sin and we teach and preach about it - so why are we surprised when people sin against us?

We all fail. We all sin. Can we not see our own sins that are so often part of the hurt and pain that we are now living with? Oh, how easy for the self-life to blame others and fail to see our part in the situation. In some cases people are blaming God and that becomes even more complex. Whole books like, Disappointed With God by Philip Yancey have been written to help deal with this.

My brothers and sisters, there is great hope for all of us. God has used us and He has a great plan for our lives in our pilgrimage to become more like Christ, which should always be our great goal!

Let us embrace the pain and hurt and allow it to make us better people for His glory.

Amen