My family recently took a vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains. One of our favorite things we found to do there was play in some of the streams. The water was frigid, but the sound and the sights there were absolutely beautiful. My oldest daughter came and sat next to me on a rock for a moment and made a statement that still reverberates in my mind: “You know, Mom, the streams would be pretty boring to look at if it weren’t for all the rocks. That’s what really makes them so pretty.” Then off she ran again, to go splash and play in the icy mountain water.
The Lord nudged my heart. Our lives as Christians would be pretty boring to watch, too, if He allowed us to never experience any obstacles. To always be “happy and healthy and wealthy”, like so many television evangelists claim we should be these days. Precious friend, the beauty of Christ is only revealed in us when we encounter those obstacles and keep flowing despite them. Consider what the Bible says in II Corinthians: “For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh... For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God...For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (II Corinthians 4:11, 15, 17)
The Lord isn’t intent on harming us when we face problems: He is intent on BLESSING us. I pray we will all come to the point that we realize that, even when we are in the midst of those obstacles. May we also grasp that, sometimes, when the world seems to completely drop out from under our feet, perhaps those are the very times the lost person in our midst has to stop...to gaze with amazement over a gaping jaw, at the beauty and awesome wonder of the waterfall cascading down the side of the mountain of our lives.
Lisa Price
The Lord nudged my heart. Our lives as Christians would be pretty boring to watch, too, if He allowed us to never experience any obstacles. To always be “happy and healthy and wealthy”, like so many television evangelists claim we should be these days. Precious friend, the beauty of Christ is only revealed in us when we encounter those obstacles and keep flowing despite them. Consider what the Bible says in II Corinthians: “For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh... For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God...For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (II Corinthians 4:11, 15, 17)
The Lord isn’t intent on harming us when we face problems: He is intent on BLESSING us. I pray we will all come to the point that we realize that, even when we are in the midst of those obstacles. May we also grasp that, sometimes, when the world seems to completely drop out from under our feet, perhaps those are the very times the lost person in our midst has to stop...to gaze with amazement over a gaping jaw, at the beauty and awesome wonder of the waterfall cascading down the side of the mountain of our lives.
Lisa Price